What did I do wrong?

[mzsuccess]

OK. So I'm a Cna while in nursing school. I work at a retirement center. And I was assigned to sit with this gentlement who had a stroke. One evening while sitting with him he gets really agitated and starts yelling, screaming at his wife. Kept getting up saying things were out the window that wasn't there, asking was he going to doe and couldn't sit still. I thought he was honestly going to hit his wife..I never seen him so upset. Now I'm not suppose to give meds we give them to his wife and she gives them to him. Every other day, the mangers are changing the "what to do" forums and who to call and his son also. He's on hospice. I called the triage nurse because it was late. I explained to her what was going on and I told her he had ativan and she told me to give it to him. ThT was two days ago and now. I get to work and I hear I'm in big trouble and the son is so upset yelling. Saying it was the wrong medicine, but it had his name on it and he's now messed up. Anyway I'm suppose to have a meeting tomorrow and don't know what to expect. I feel bad and everyone is looking at me crazy like its my fault and I don't know what to tell my boss. I feel embarrassed and it makes me not want to be a nurse anymore. Plus the wife is fabricating the story and she isn't all the way in her right mind. How can I handle this or should've handle this? I charted everything, like I was suppose to and other girls gave it to him and didn't chart anything.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

LadyFree28- perhaps they're on the mobile website, where administration refuses to add the quote feature back, making threads 10x harder to follow?

[ksrn20]

LadyFree28- perhaps they're on the mobile website, where administration refuses to add the quote feature back, making threads 10x harder to follow?

Yes, you can use the quote back on the mobile website-I'm doing now and always have...

[Red Kryptonite]

My state BON recently made it legal for UAPs to give most type of meds with an exception to Im, IV etc.... and the facility/company has to adopt the practice for it to be ok

Well what's the point of even having nurses then?

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Yes, you can use the quote back on the mobile website-I'm doing now and always have...

perhaps it depends on the phone company?

[morte, LPN, LVN]

perhaps you have no experience in the milieu that the OP is working in ?

There you go. You are not allowed to TOUCH medications---any nurse that tells you to do this is setting you up for failure. You KNOW you're not supposed to do it, yet did so anyway, so my sympathy level if very low, I'm sorry.

For what it's worth, it always seems to be the most far-removed family member (the son) who yells the loudest =(

Definate lesson learned here, sounds like there is serious need for education on this within your facility and do what you can to let them know that the oncall RN would not come assess, that she found it easier to give you an order that she's not allowed to give, nor are you allowed to accept.

[Red Kryptonite]

perhaps it depends on the phone company?

More likely the model and OS of the phone.

[MendedHeart]

I believe that the RN has to pull the meds and give them to the UAP to administer I think. My hospital would never do this I dont think. When I used to be a CNA, I took a Medication administration test and then was abke to pass meds and even give insulin in the AL setting.

P.s. Nurses do ALOT more than just pass medicines

[Katniss88]

I have been dealing with a somewhat similar situation. During report a nurse told me she was giving a certain pain medication, so I followed what she told me in report and gave the medication. There was not an order to discontinue the current medication and start a different one, so the nurse took it upon herself to do it. I didn't double check the orders so I continued to make a medication error and a huge mistake. In the end I get a write up and suspension, not to mention a huge blow to my confidence. Now I can say I have learned an important lesson, don't trust what another nurse tells you especially when it comes to medications. From now on I will go check the orders myself before giving a medication. As others have said, know your scope of practice. Do not do something just because someone tells you do it, because in the end your butt is on the line for whatever you do.

[Red Kryptonite]

P.s. Nurses do ALOT more than just pass medicines

Yes, I know. I never said they don't.

[MissM.RN, BSN, RN]

OP, so sorry you were put in that situation. it sounds like you are working for a crappy agency and everyone who is supposed to support the only one (you!) who was directly in the home failed. The confusion around the actual order, ativan or haldol, the fact that ativan was still in the home, the fact that the nurse is asking you to work outside the scope of your license! Not okay. I sympathize in that I too have been in situations as a CNA in which a nurse (usually lazy) is pressuring you to do too much. Just remember that in many states CNA = NO MEDS. do not even apply nystatin powder or help the patient rinse their mouths with CHG rinse. i watched a nurse i work with hand a bottle of nystatin to an aide and say "put this on after you bathe her". so many things wrong: 1. aide cannot administer ordered medications 2. aide doesn't know where to apply it 3. the NURSE should be helping with that bath! i took the aide aside immediately and told her not to, and to report that nurse right away. you should always do the same. OP, i would start looking for a new job in an environment that is supportive and boundaries are clear. best of luck to you as you forgive yourself for this situation and carry on in your career!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

It sounds like you are being set up for the fall for a number of things. You are not trained in assessment or med identification/administration, yet you are expected (by ever-changing "policy" on this case) to assess the patient's needs and identify the med that the triage nurse is telling you to hand to the patient's wife, who is also, apparently, cognitively or emotionally impaired. Now the son is mad.

So, who are they gonna blame? You, for their own mismanagement of this case. Because they need someone to blame, and it won't be their own policies for this particular patient.

The meds are in a lockbox? That says something right there. They know the wife has impaired judgment, so it is up to the 1:1 sitter to make the med identification.

We can say all we want to about what is in or not in your scope of practice as a CNA, but unless you are truly certified as a CNA (and not just someone hired as a sitter), you don't have the training to know what *is* your scope. The hospice company does know your scope, but has policies that are violating it. And you are in trouble for their lack of oversight.

When a family member was dying at home, the spouse had all the meds at her disposal, and was able to give them as she saw fit after appropriate teaching. After he died, the nurse came in and disposed of all the meds in front of the spouse. When I got to the house after the death, I went to the fridge to grab something to eat, and lo and behold, a crapload of Ativan was still in the fridge. It doesn't surprise me that a med that was d/c'd was still in the lockbox for your patient.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Ksrn20- how? I see no way to do it on my iPhone. When I brought the topic up in the site suggestions section I was told it was eliminated to save clutter.