What do they teach about med pass in Nursing School?

[SitcomNurse, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN]

Hello and good luck to all you nursing students. I have a question for you.

For any of you that are up to the point where you do a med pass in a hospital or nursing home.

What are they teaching you?

Of course we have the 5 r's.

But what moral or ethical oblication?

What about patient rights in regard to taking meds?

What about making sure they actually take the meds?

Im wondering, because we had a new grad - orientee who surprised me with the answers she had to these questions. I will give it away eventually, but I am so damn curious about what the answers are across the allnurses.com board, for nursing students, and fresh grads! :smackingf

BTW, she is a SCCC Grad.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Sometimes God turns on the Sitcom Nurse Channel. Its like Comedy Central for Her.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

hello and good luck to all you nursing students. i have a question for you.

for any of you that are up to the point where you do a med pass in a hospital or nursing home.

what are they teaching you? we're taught the five rights.

of course we have the 5 r's.

but what moral or ethical oblication? i think we're morally and ethically, not to mention legally, bound to administer the correct med and dose. and with certain cultures, we should have some idea if a med goes against that culture's belief system (i.e., certain meds containing pork products).

what about patient rights in regard to taking meds? patients have a right to know what med they are being given and what it's for.

what about making sure they actually take the meds? we can't force a patient to take meds (except in some psych emergencies/situations). all we can do is provide education and document, but other than that, it's up to the patient whether or not they actually take the med.

im wondering, because we had a new grad - orientee who surprised me with the answers she had to these questions. i will give it away eventually, but i am so damn curious about what the answers are across the allnurses.com board, for nursing students, and fresh grads! :smackingf

btw, she is a sccc grad.

thanks everyone for your input!

sometimes god turns on the sitcom nurse channel. its like comedy central for her.

see purple responses.

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

We were taught the 6 Rights.

Moral and ethical like giving a placebo? We were taught that was our own demon to deal with as to what we would do.

Pt rights in regard to taking meds is that they can reject any med that they want to at any time. Now we did a lot of prison clinical time and it was a little different in there.

[SitcomNurse, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN]

I appreciate the answers ladies. Your answers were great.

The nurse in question said it wasnt her obligation to ensure the resident swallowed the meds. That wasnt her problem.

She also failed to ensure the patient was awake before putting pills in his mouth, and then leaving even when he didnt respond to her stating...Dont forget to swallow.... and putting about 10cc of liquid in his mouth.

Of course she knew all the rights associated with HIS right to refuse, and the rights associated with getting the patient/med/time etc.

But....she didnt get, over the course of her employment.. that she had an obligation to the resident. That obligation is to carry out his wishes. He wised to take his cardiac and parkinsons meds daily, he wished to be able to walk, and making sure he got his meds was the only way to do that!(Parkinsons was really bad, he was sooooo fragile with the meds...)

That is the moral obligation. Morally bound to carry out their wishes in regard to their care.

Thanks again for the replies.

[Rednights]

Come on ... this isn't even an education issue ... any sane person (nurse or not) would find something wrong with what you described.

There's something fundamentally wrong with this persons thought process that needs to be addressed quickly before something goes terribly wrong when she/he is unsupervised.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Come on ... this isn't even an education issue ... any sane person (nurse or not) would find something wrong with what you described.

There's something fundamentally wrong with this persons thought process that needs to be addressed quickly before something goes terribly wrong when she/he is unsupervised.

Yeah...I have a really hard time believing she was taught that in school.

As far as placebos, we were taught that unless the patient is enrolled in a study where they are aware that they might be given a placebo, placebos are unethical.

[caliotter3]

I do not recall being taught any specifics about a med pass. We had to prepare our little cards for each of the meds we would be giving our particular one or two patients. That was it. I learned everything about a med pass on my first job.