Quick Rant on Meds

I am tired of a particular nurse who works the shift before me and has been a nurse forever NEVER signing out ANY meds from the MAR (we are all on paper). Then not yellowing out d/ced meds. Which extends my med pass.. and makes me look incompetent.

In my setting patients sometimes lie about when they got their last dose of a PRN or scheduled med..

So then I have to pray that said nurse wrote a nursing note on it. If she didn't then I have to use my judgement...

This nurse does this with EVERY patient.. Once in a blue moon one or two patient's meds are signed out off the MAR by this nurse.

The nurse was on vacation a few months ago and it was so much easier... None of the other nurses have a problem with signing out meds.

I don't know what to do..
One word....MANAGER.If this was my facility she would be written up. That is a med error to not sign things out. What the heck does this woman think MARS are for? Does she not see other signatures?

This is a pt safety issue. I would talk to her about it and if it doesn't change - chain of command.

Start writing up an incident report every time you run into issues of not knowing what time a med was given. I would also start calling this person at home every time I had a question about when a med was given.

keep records as you pass your meds. mention each individual med, dose, etc. but refer to pts. by their first and last initial only. yes, it does take time you don't really have, but it backs up what you are reporting when you do report her.

Remember: if it isn't written it didn't happen. So, if she gave the meds and didn't write it anywhere she made a med error or can be causing the next person to make a med error. How does she account for giving controlled substances??Incident reports are called for, with specifics. Managers read them. Lots of managers will respond to someone telling them about a problem, but if it's written on an official incident report they definitely sit up and take notice. If they don't, follow the chain-of-command upwards.

Quote from tokmomOne word....MANAGER.If this was my facility she would be written up. That is a med error to not sign things out. What the heck does this woman think MARS are for? Does she not see other signatures?

To me this is a big red flag! Multiple med errors every time on x number of patients....wow! How many of these meds are narcs???? Maybe this is her way of diverting, and covering her tracks. I'd have carpal tunnel from filling out incident reports!

Quote from tokmomOne word....MANAGER.If this was my facility she would be written up. That is a med error to not sign things out. What the heck does this woman think MARS are for? Does she not see other signatures?