ahem, ahem. I'm back. well, I say that, but we'll see. I'm not going to take the time right now to write a long, drawn-out post catching the world up on the goings on in my life of the past couple months; I'ma just dive in.
So I am working at a substance abuse detox and mental health stabilization center. The premise is great, the employees (for the most part) have good hearts, and the environment is busy enough to be interesting, but not so chaotic it is a trainwreck. Now, in this state, I am NOT a licensed RN. My license applies to GA only. In this state, that means I am NOT a medical person. I have, however, completed my med tech certification. This means, I can responsibly handle the technical task of handing out medications. It means I know how to physically pour them from the bottle to the cup, and how to read and write orders appropriately on the MAR. And really, that is about all it means. However, the administration at my facility don't seem to understand the delineation between licensed medical personnel, and a med tech. They want ME to be the only person staffed 3 days a week 8am - 4pm in the med room. Not only do I think their use of med techs is inappropriate or only because they've found some loophole, but I am not even an actual STAFF MEMBER, I am an INTERN.
So, besides the fact that I think they might be bending some rules to use a med tech in the first place, it is a completely idiotic move to put an intern in this role if for no other reason than the person in the med room holds the keys. What keys, you might ask? Oh, just the keys to both the patients' valuables AND all of the narcotics. In fact, they aren't even normal narcotics-- this includes the subutex and suboxone we administer to the patients. The thing with subutex and suboxone is that the doctors have to have special licensing to even prescribe it, there are extra forms to fill out for EACH prescription, and the DEA was here last week and we got in trouble because we'd been documenting something wrong. But for some reason they think that they'll put an intern in charge of it for half the week, during the busiest shifts, when the most prescriptions are written, when the most patients are being admitted and discharged and they need things out of the safe, the time when the most people have to go to the ER (not sure why this seems to be), etc. Not only that, but on days I work, the 2nd shift nurse has to do ALL of the admission paperwork for both my shift and hers, because I cannot do assessments because I am UNLICENSED. The administration seems to think that things can be just implied to be delegated, and then signed off on after the fact. Um, I'm sorry, but that is on SOMEONE'S license. Whoever the delegation is implied to be from.
This is all aside from the fact that, as part of my internship program, I am explicitly NOT supposed to be used IN PLACE of staff. And I'm pretty sure that is what they are trying to do. And by that I mean that is what I know they are attempting to do. AND I feel like, as an intern, I should not have to worry about IF I'll get to eat lunch, or if I'll have to stay late to finish my work, or whatever. However, I'm keeping track of how much time I spend late, and will use that time for extra days off. Just sayin.
Soo, tomorrow I meet with everyone and have to try to stand up for myself without saying "You are an idiot if you think this is an appropriate way to run a company."
No comments:
Post a Comment