What if you dont want to pass meds??

[newlvngrad]

What type of places are out there for nurses that dont want to pass meds? I know thats a big part of nursing, but I prefer not to pass meds. I feel really stressed out when I have to pass meds, It takes me so long because I check over and over to make sure its the right med , right time, and right patient. I know that there are clinics, but what else?

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Not much. As an LVN meds will be the major part of your job anywhere.

[nightmare, RN]

Keep on doing your 5 rights and I'll bet in a few months time you will realise that ,not only are you quicker,but also more confident about med.rounds. We all felt like that when we started!!

[annaedRN, RN]

I felt the same way when I started as a new grad - you do eventually get used to it and get in your own routine to make the med pass go by as smoothly as possible. I did get tired of it though. I began to do home health - private duty nursing. I LOVE it -the one on one lets you make a difference and really get to know your patient...and now as a RN I work for VNA doing HH visits. But some other choices would be clinics, doctor offices, hospices, schools ( in some states -still supervised by RN) and sometimes in specialty areas in the hospital like OR, L&D, GEU, radiology, etc. I still vote for home health personally. Good luck to ya!

[newlvngrad]

Hey thanks for the info. I dont have much experience though, I would like to work home health but I know you do need experience. Did you come into HH with experience?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

In my area, many of the nursing homes utilize medication aides. Med aides are CNAs who have undergone additional certification to administer medications. Nurses basically focus on 'skills' at nursing homes that employ med aides such as g-tubes, wound care, nebulizers, injections, splints, IVs, blood glucose monitoring, and treatments.

[annaedRN, RN]

Hey thanks for the info. I dont have much experience though, I would like to work home health but I know you do need experience. Did you come into HH with experience?

Hello again.. I had 14 months of LTC experience. It depends on what area of HH you go into. Alot of times the private duty agencies that do shift work don't require a whole lot of experience. Just make sure that you get a good orientation to a case before you are by yourself. The only down side is that if you do the same client all of the time, the skills you don't use with them get rusty My VNA uses LPNs for visits, and they usually do want a year or 2 of experience b/c of the amount of assessment and "troubleshooting" that needs done at each visit. If HH is really where you want to be, it is worth a few months at a LTC for the experience. I learned alot from it myself..it just wasn't for me.