Time frame for med passing

ayla2004, ASN, RN · Jun 2, 2009

i could never do the8am meds witout a hour +/-i normally ave 8 pt while i do work in rehab it is cote/geriatic and often morning meds can involve 8 or more drugs.

sometimes i caon't get them out within the time frame and do it safely making sure the pt that need help and can't betrusted have taken their tablets etc. it worse if there is a controlled drug as you need to find another rn to check it with you and they are doing there own pt drugs.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2009

you know, if they start cracking down, then they might realize that it isn't going to happen...my hospital claims that 1/2 is the time frame...but I still use an hour...going on a year now and no one's ever said boo to me. However, within reason, I still try to be as close to on time as possible...i.e. antibiotics, pain meds, things that have a certain time frame of use(heparin/lovenox/etc)....I'm not going to hold up the scheduled tylenol for a patient because it's 725....

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2009

What kills me is they beat us up with these windows, but have no problems dropping an admission on you just before the big 2100 med pass. I had a night where I took an admission at 1930, literally I had just finished report on those I did have, and here came a new one, unstable and shocky as could be. So, between doing the admission and realizing, "crap, he REALLY doesn't need to be with us" and getting him sent to ICU, I think I ran behind 2 hrs all night long. Of course, that was the big thing -- "why were you late with everything?" --- uh, I was trying to keep a patient alive....

pagandeva2000, LPN · Jun 2, 2009

Most people are threatened with this and nothing happens. I am not making light of it, but this is not a realistic goal. These are the horrors in nursing that make people run on the first thing smoking from the bedside.

cherrybreeze, ADN, RN · Jun 2, 2009

We actually switched not long ago the other way around....from the half hour on each side to the hour. Of course, I use my judgement there, too.......a QID med is going to be given closer to the actual time than a daily, no doubt! For me, if a person is getting all ready for bed and wants to be tucked in/lights off and it's 2015, I'm giving the 2100 meds (even when we had the 30 minute window). Just doesn't make sense to me, if they want their bedtime pills at bedtime, they can have them!

You can only do what's most realistic, and use your good intentions and good sense.

Cassaundra · Jun 2, 2009

We were specifically taught in school that the window is 30 before and 30 after. If it turns out to be more than that then it has to be marked and documented as such with the reason why. All the hospitals in our area adhear to that window.

elkpark · Jun 2, 2009

The "30 before to 30 after" window was the universal standard for decades -- it is only fairly recently (within the last decade, I would estimate) that some facilities have gone to a more lenient standard.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jun 2, 2009

We still do the 30-minute before and after. I don't get my knickers in a wad over something like Colace given outside the window - but things like Abx I do make a concerted effort to get them in the pt on time.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jun 3, 2009

i have been doing this over twenty years, dont remember anything other than an hour before or after////

Riseupandnurse · Jun 3, 2009

We have always had a half hour either side, but it's never been possible to adhere to it. Now we have the blasted bar coders it's much, much worse. And to add insult to injury when we go outside the window the bar coder won't chart the administration until we write in WHY we're late. I always want to write the truth about all the other stuff that took precedence (including finding a working bar coder) but I know better.:angryfire