Working with Expired CNA

southern rn · Jul 12, 2006

Upfront, I am not a nurse. However, being a former EMT I am somewhat familiar with how the Medical Field works. I know of someone that may be working as a patient tech in a assisted living facility possibly a private home. Now, I am not positive of the details, but the hair on my neck stood out when I heard this person has to administer Morphine, among other duties for a patient. On top of this, any CNA certificates that may have been are now long expired. My questions is.....possible penalties should the S***T hit the fan. I am worried about the person doing the care giving and would just assume pull this person out of there ASAP.

Is this person working in the home of someone you know personally so that is why you are concerned? Not to be mean, but saying I "know of someone that may be working.. and "not sure about the details" sorta sounds well, nosy. I do believe that there are assisted living facilities that employ "med techs" who do have to pass whatever requirements are set in place to pass said meds...as far as this person working in a private home, you would not have to have a CNA certificate to do that..the family or pt can basically get anyone off the street they want to provide care and yes administer morphine-it would not be any different than anyone else reading the directions on a prescription bottle and giving it. If you don't personally know of a person in direct danger/at risk, I would let it go.

jtown38 · Jul 14, 2006

Thanks for the info Southern Rn. I know the way I worded things in my original post may have come across as "nosy" or perhaps a little off, however, I wrote the post that way to keep info personal. Yes, I do know this person and he/she is well capable of the task. The patient I would assure you is not at risk and being cared for well. My issue was actually

whether or not such work could be done without proper certs in place.