Medication administration by unlicensed staff Essays

Medication administration by unlicensed staff Essays Medication administration by unlicensed staff Paper Medication administration by unlicensed staff Paper Due to the increasing number of healthcare institution but insufficient number of medical staffs like registered nurses, non registered nurse s are now being hired by different healthcare institution to meet the need of their patients in providing medical services (Zimmermann, 2000). We all now that almost profession today must first take their board exam to determine whether a person given a specific profession is ready to perform his task depending on his chosen career. An aspiring civil engineers must take and pass the engineering board exams before they will design and construct buildings and other infrastructures. A graduate of law must pass first his bar examination before going to a court and defend his client. A doctor aspirant must first pass the doctoral examination before e or she can be call a doctor. Almost all profession needs examination because it tells whether that person is capable of doing its profession. Professional Board exam serves as an ethical and professional standard and it does standardize the procedure on qualifying all aspiring graduate students on their profession. Like what is discussed in the above paragraph, board exam is very important because many companies and industries are looking for passed board and bar examinees before they will hire them. But like what is stated in the first paragraph, unregistered nurse are now being introduced in a healthcare institution to fill up the limited number of registered burse. In this paper, the advantages as well the disadvantages of employing and using unregistered nurses in administration of medication in a healthcare institution will be examined and discussed. The discussion will start on the advantages of using unregistered nurses on the said position. One of the most important reasons why many medical institution are now accepting unregistered nurses is because on the shortage of registered nurses to meet the increasing medical services. It is very evident that there is an increasing in population in the country and this means an increase also on people who wants to have medical services. One of the advantages of using unregistered nurses in a medication administration is that, these unregistered nurses can be allocated in different tasks like clerical and technical tasks. These nonprofessional tasks are part of the work of a registered nurse. Thus, if these nonprofessional tasks will be given the responsibility to other people who are the unregistered nurses, then the registered nurses and medical technicians will have the chance to focus their medical task which leads to less medical errors (Burruss, Ashworth, Arikian, 1993). A study was conducted to determine if there is a statistical difference on the medical error committed by registered nurses and the unregistered one. From the result, it showed that registered nurse commit more medical errors than with the unregistered nurse. The result was supported by the discussion on the difference in terms of medical task of a registered and an unregistered nurse. This is because, unregistered nurse focus only on one task while the registered nurse has multiple tasks. Thus, unregistered nurse is very important in a healthcare institution in helping the registered nurse take the burden in providing medical service (Burruss et al. , 1993). Given the advantages of using unregistered nurses on medication administration, there are also disadvantages. Medication administration is very sensitive task in a healthcare industry. This task sees to it that the patient is in good hand and that the medical service given to a patient must be efficient and effective. The nurse that takes in charge on the welfare of their patient must have sufficient practical experience in applying their knowledge and skills in medication administration. And this sensitive part can only be done by a registered nurse because these registered nurses undergo an effective preparation that is essential in their nursing training (Wright, 2005). Another reason why unregistered nurse are not allowed to work in a medication administration task is that, there are times that unsupervised medicines is needed by time (Zimmermann, 2000). When this time comes, unregistered has no basic knowledge in doing this task. Also, if accidents happen, they are not accountable on using unsupervised medicines (Wright, 2005). References: Burruss, R. A. , Ashworth, N. D. , Arikian, V. L. (1993). Medication administration by non-RN personnel: A safe and cost-effective response to the RN shortage. : The Health Care Supervisor. Wright, K. (2005). Unsupervised medication administration by nursing students [Electronic Version]. Retrieved November 16, 2007, from nursing-standard. co. uk/archives/ns/vol19-39/pdfs/v19n39p4954. pdf Zimmermann, P. G. (2000). The use of unlicensed assistive personnel: An update and skeptical look at a role that may present more problems than solutions [Electronic Version], 26. Retrieved November 16, 2007, from jenonline. org/article/PIIS0099176700581252/abstract