so, today my clinical instructor told me to "move it along" during med admin.

[amianurseyet?]

she's right. i'm moving slowly. however, it's not because i'm out to lunch, so much as i'm concerned that i'll make a mistake that may get me eliminated from my program. we have evaluations next week. otherwise, my report is very good with her. anyone else ever feel slow in clinicals? i notice my friends will speed through things in order NOT to look conspicuously slow. it works for them. for me, clinicals feels very similar to my fear of heights. i just don't want to die.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Interesting... it was always my understanding that one did not need to wear gloves during preparation of a medication unless you could reasonably expect to come in direct contact with the med, and/or it was something that could absorb through skin (e.g. transdermal patches, split/crushed pills, liquid preparations, etc).* Otherwise, washing/sanitizing hands before and after prep is an appropriate practice. Gloves are only required at the point of patient contact, i.e. IM/SC injections, IV administrations, NG/PEG administrations, etc.

This leads to an interesting question for administration of PO meds... in a routine med pass, you pull the ordered meds from the cabinet in their sealed packaging, take the still-sealed meds into the patient room, check the meds against the MAR and patient ID band, deliver the meds out of the packaging and into a medication cup in sterile fashion, and place the cup on the patient's side table. The patient then swallows the contents of the cup. You never touched the meds or the patient. Do you need to wear gloves, or are washed hands before/after appropriate? Discuss. :)

* Chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic preparations are not discussed here; there is a special set of precautions for handling each of these, and a student would not be reasonably expected to handle them.

There should be no discussion necessary. This is basically how it goes in a nutshell

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Tale your time! A med error is the worst feeling in the world. It is far better to be dinged for taking too long than shortcut and make a mistake. Perhaps you need to streamline your personal med process. Look for ways to speed it up that don't impede safety.