Action | Licensed Assisted Living Facilities Regulation Comprehensive Revision |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 7/18/2012 |
Increase supervision or require periodic observation of medication aides (all shifts, all stations) to ensure all medications are administered according to the physician's or other prescriber's instructions and consistent with the Board of Nursing curriculum for registered medication aides. I witnessed numerous medication errors over the years, and primarily by aides who did not take the time to read and fully understand the information for each medication as written in the MAR. All LPNs and medication aides must be required to follow proper medication administration procedures such as not pre-pouring medications, preparing and administering only one resident's medicines at a time, remaining with the resident to ensure pills have been swallowed, and other important guidelines. Require the Medication Management Plan to include methods to identify pharmacy dispensing errors, e.g. mix-ups of drugs with similar names. Narrow the +/- one hour window to +/- thirty minutes for medications identified as time-critical by a physician or other prescriber.