Techs and MEDS?????

[RNOTODAY]

Hi all, I have a question. I "shadowed" today at a large univ. hospital OR. This is a new field for me, I have done ER in the past. But something struck me as odd. The circulator, pours meds into a sterile cup, and the scrub tech goes back to the field with the meds, and the circulator has no more control of it, but yet is responsible for it? It strikes me as weird that an unlicensed person would even be touching meds as important as EPI, Marcain, etc. The cups were not even labeled, but even if they were, can it really be left to the techs to not mix them up? Can someone clear this up for me? Any thoughts? Opinions? I am assuming that is how it is done, not that anyone was doing anything improper, (besides the not labeling)....but.... I am just not used to giving up meds to someone who is not trained to handle them......

[ortess1971]

Labeling has to be done.I can't believe that some places don't insist on labeling and repeating the dosage to the surgeon. It seems to me that it is a basic standard of care. As far as the tech issue... I have been a tech for 5 years. I graduated a 2 year program where I had to take Pharmacology Anatomy, Microbiology etc etc etc. I am also certified and I take my job seriously. I don't attempt to practice outside of my role. The big problem as I see it is that there is no across the board standard for education. Therefore, you have people who have received little training scrubbing. This makes the dedicated techs look bad. In a situation where there is trust and good teamwork, the patient will be safe. I will be graduating nursing school in 4 weeks and have a job lined up in the OR. I am fortunate because I trust most of the techs that I will be working with. They are true professionals who keep the patient as their focus and they label their meds!