When nursing staff ask for medications

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This is becoming a routine thing with some of the cna's that i work with. they would come up to me usually during med pass when i really don't like to be bothered and don't have the time, with their c/o pain. can i get a tylenol, ibuprofen, its very annoying because i'm not there to take care of their needs. i don't feel comfortable in giving stock meds like m.o.m, or tylenol to staff when they should bring their own if this is occuring on a regular basis. i also don't like to see anyone go thru an entire shift in pain.

Is it ok to give otc meds to staff or should i just tell them no these are for the residents?

Am I stealing when I grab a cup of water from the nourishment room? Or when I go to the bathroom and use the facility's toilet paper? Or when I use alcohol pads to clean up after a resident scratches me? Not wanting to risk your license is one thing but telling staff they can't have a Tylenol because it's "stealing" is a good way to make them feel like they're not worth the dirt under your shoe.

This response is ridiculous, knee jerk reactive, and is obviously made by a non-licensed care giver. Otherwise he/she would understand the seriousness of diversion. Diversion is diversion no matter the compound of the pharmaceutical.

This issue is black and white. If the medication is meant for patients, it must not be handed out to staff. If the medication is meant for staff, have at it. This has nothing to do with the nursing staff's opinion of the person seeking the med. If you want to split hairs, then yes, it would be inappropriate for you to use an alcohol wipe to "clean up" after being injured by a resident. The proper course of action would be to go to your supervisor who would then complete an incident report after accessing the First Aid Kit and cleaning your wounds appropriately. It is not impossible that one could develop a serious infection S/P that type of mechanism of injury, and an incident report would ensure proper treatment if and when that did occur. Who knows where that residents fingernails have been?

Calm down and let the nurses do their jobs and make the decisions they were trained to make.

Target has great prices on analgesics.:yeah:

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Thank you for your response to fuzzywuzzy's post. I was beginning to think that there are not many nurses who appreciate their profession. As a Certified Nurse Practitioner I have prescriptive Authority and a DEA license. I take that responsibility seriously. If more nurses held their standards in high regard then maybe nursing as a whole would recieve a greater level of respect.

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Specializes in LTC.
This response is ridiculous, knee jerk reactive, and is obviously made by a non-licensed care giver. Otherwise he/she would understand the seriousness of diversion. Diversion is diversion no matter the compound of the pharmaceutical.

This issue is black and white. If the medication is meant for patients, it must not be handed out to staff. If the medication is meant for staff, have at it. This has nothing to do with the nursing staff's opinion of the person seeking the med. If you want to split hairs, then yes, it would be inappropriate for you to use an alcohol wipe to "clean up" after being injured by a resident. The proper course of action would be to go to your supervisor who would then complete an incident report after accessing the First Aid Kit and cleaning your wounds appropriately. It is not impossible that one could develop a serious infection S/P that type of mechanism of injury, and an incident report would ensure proper treatment if and when that did occur. Who knows where that residents fingernails have been?

Calm down and let the nurses do their jobs and make the decisions they were trained to make.

Target has great prices on analgesics.:yeah:

Oh come on. I said right in my post that I *don't* object to someone refusing to give me Tylenol on the grounds that it's out of their scope/illegal. I was reacting to the implication that as one of those horrid unlicensed people you speak of, that I'm not worth the half a cent a Tylenol would cost the facility. THAT is what the post I replied to was talking about. And that's precisely the attitude you're reinforcing here.

And actually, with the way I get paid, I need to go to the dollar store for my analgesics, but thanks for the tip.

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Specializes in adult ICU.

Lord, fuzzy. If somebody is worrying that hard that they are "dispensing without a license" or giving 20 cents worth of medication to a UAP, you have to wonder whether they have anything better to do with their time.

Come on. Doesn't the world have bigger fish to fry?

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

The world might have bigger fish to fry, but the BON and the DPH do not.

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The world might have bigger fish to fry, but the BON and the DPH do not.

Your state is even harder assed than NY. And that's going some!

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I've had nurses offer other workers medicine from the cart if they say they ran out of a prescription! yikes!! Tell them to go to the pharmacy on their lunch break. As for OTCs, a nurse in Massachusetts (where else?) was brought before the BON and sanctioned. They considered it 'dispensing without an order or a license to dispense." I keep my own APAP, and Ibuprofen in my desk and let the nurses know if they need it, I've got it.

Well, that's the sensible way to handle it. My DON seems to think the top drawer of my cart (where all the house stock OTCs are kept) is her own personal medicine cupboard. Almost daily she asks me for ibuprofren and Tylenol for her headaches...I gently suggested yesterday she might want to look into a script for migraines. I swear I give out my ibuprofen to her way more than I do to patients (very few actually have orders for ibuprofen). Sometimes if I'm in the middle of a dressing she'll even knock and want my keys so she can grab her 800mg of ibuprofen...

I had an aide at one point who I was giving Tylenol to on occasion for toothaches. I had to put my foot down though because Tylenol really was her gateway drug! One day she informed me she had decided she needs to start taking vitamins because she's always tired and asked for something like a vit. C, B12, Vit D, Multivit and whatever else I happened to have. I told her no, she was going overboard, and she wouldn't talk to me for weeks after. Some people are crazy.

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I'm 6 months pregnant and keep Tylenol and Tums in my work bag. If an employee asks, I give them some of my own... I don't want anyone to work with a headache!!

Can't believe 'diversion' and 'Tylenol' are in the same conversation... What have we come to???

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I'm 6 months pregnant and keep Tylenol and Tums in my work bag. If an employee asks, I give them some of my own... I don't want anyone to work with a headache!!

Can't believe 'diversion' and 'Tylenol' are in the same conversation... What have we come to???

First of all, I commend you for using your head and giving your coworkers analgesics and antacids from your personal supply. You are fortunate you can afford to keep them painfree and a pleasure to work with.

However, once again points are being missed. Tylenol is not the issue. Tyenol as written as an order by a physician for a patient/resident is the issue and what is being referred to in the "conversation".

Just wait and watch. It is only a matter of time. It's those nurses who attempt to simplify and become complacent naysayers who get popped for violating laws.

Hopefully you never run out of your personal supply.

But if you do, go ahead...see to it that your coworkers are painfree and comfortable and happy and cozy despite nursing and drug administration laws. See how long you remain licensed to practice(that's assuming you are a licensed practitioner).

:coollook:

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Specializes in Geriatrics.
I've had nurses offer other workers medicine from the cart if they say they ran out of a prescription! yikes!! Tell them to go to the pharmacy on their lunch break. As for OTCs, a nurse in Massachusetts (where else?) was brought before the BON and sanctioned. They considered it 'dispensing without an order or a license to dispense." I keep my own APAP, and Ibuprofen in my desk and let the nurses know if they need it, I've got it.

Massachusetts is beyond insane. I have lived here all my life (short of a 9 month relocation to Florida) and have to say that here they do tend to go after the little stuff and ignore the big stuff.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

They tend not to ignore anything and that is the problem.

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Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU, Psych, Med-surg...etc....

Whew....

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