What shift does the 7am med pass?

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I do 11-7 for the first time tomorrow, I've seen yesterday's LPN who worked 11-7 marked off the med pass for 7am for today. ex. She did 11-7 on 3/14/13 and she signed off the 7am med pass for 3/15/13. I thought the 7-3 shift did the 7am med pass? or does it depend on the facility?

Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.

Speak to the 7-3 shift to find out the usual routine for the 7 am pass. 7 am is a really weird time for meds IMO; I've seen 6 am for Synthroid and some q 6 or q 8 hour meds only. By far the largest pass of the day is from 8 am-10 am. Second largest pass is usually the 4 pm-6 pm pass. With the HS meds and 1 pm meds being smaller, and the 6 am pass being the smallest of all.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

You can't give a 7 am med at 3:30. You can give it anytime between 6 and 8 and technically be on time. Tnis is one of the most archaic rules most of us still have. Meds shouldn't be written for 7. And I am in full agreement with the posters here.....please don't wake me up at 3:30 am to give me medication ever, unless it is a true emergency, and even then, I'd think twice!!

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where I am (LTC), the 11- 7 nurse does it. The 7-3 nurses come in between 7 and 7:30, depending on their situation (taking kids to daycare, etc) and don't officially get report and start until 7:30 or later.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

My facility tries to avoid meds at 0700...or at any shift change for that matter. There's enough going on at shift change as it is without having to dole out meds.

But sometimes it's unavoidable, so if we do have 0700 meds, it's usually the night shift that will give them.

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Specializes in LTC (LPN-RN).

55 patienst? Then don't do it. Speak with a manager to let them know you cannot possibly do a whole pass for a large number of patients and leave on time. I doubt they would think you are responsible for that pass anyway. I never see 7 am med pass being done by the night nurse. The timing is usually 6am.

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The 11-7 shift covers all meds from 2300-0659. So no 7 am meds for night shift.

First off, clarify the policy at your work before you decide to pass 0700 meds. If they are yours, start at 0600. Not 0330 (to the poster who suggested that).

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i have a lot of meds due at 7am tomorrow morning, im thinking of starting 7am am med pass at 330am, is that ok?

I thought OP was being facetious. But I suppose that's the predicament you face with meds scheduled at change of shift! How absurd.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

When I worked in LTC, we never had meds scheduled for 0700, 1500 or 2300, unless it was for a special reason (say, Q36 hours Vanco or something of the like). Standard med pass times were 0800 for dailys, 0800 & 2000 for q12, 2000 for qhs, 06-14-22 for q8, 06-12-18-00 for q6 and 1800 for coumadin. On the off chance that something was scheduled for change of shift, the off going shift was responsible for giving it. Same as now where I work in the hospital. I work 1500-2330...if something is due at 2300. If it wasn't given at 1500, I give it with my first round, but as courtesy would have it, the offgoing nurse usually will have given it.

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We do not have a 7 am med pass time. 11 to 7 takes care of the 6 am meds then 7 to 3 takes care of the 8A/9A meds.

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In Colorado in an ALF if a doctor specifies a time on the the order then there is only a 1 hour window.

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There shouldn't be meds scheduled for 7am.

One of the more ridiculous aspects of LTC are those facilities that have meds scheduled at 7am.... and 8am..... and 10am.

Except in very few isolated cases, there's no need for any shift to have more than two med passes. Ever.

It's bad policy to schedule a med pass at a time that two shifts collide- if there's a major mistake, which nurse will be held accountable, since both were present at 7?

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In Colorado in an ALF if a doctor specifies a time on the the order then there is only a 1 hour window.

Do you technically mean a two hour window? One hour before, one hour after... or are things different in Colorado?

If you mean just one hour TOTAL, I think that makes a medpass pretty impossible in the LTC setting, not to mention most med-surg floors...

edit: Just realized that you specifically mentioned ALF; it is still a total of two hours for us, though.

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