Community Care Licensing provided several important policy updates and clarifications during last week’s CALA Spring Conference, including one regarding the use of oral syringes. For some time there has been a lack of consistent interpretation from LPAs in the field regarding whether or not trained unlicensed staff members may use an oral syringe to draw [...]
As residents and their families look for ways to cut back on health care costs, assisted living and residential care providers are increasingly faced with the challenge of handling medications purchased in Canada and Mexico. The two most common questions providers ask about these drugs include: 1) Are they safe? 2) Are they legal?
Assisted living and residential care residents often move into a community directly from their home. While living at home many of our residents managed their own medications or received minimal assistance from a family member. Over the years the volume of medications in their possession can quickly build up as residents saw multiple physicians, purchased [...]
We do not normally address medication recalls in our Tuesday Tips, but because Albuterol is commonly used by assisted living and residential care residents we felt it was appropriate to bring this to everyone’s attention.
This week a Tuesday Tip subscriber asked us for clarification on assisting residents with PRN medications. This is a common area of confusion for providers and caregivers. Fortunately this is addressed in RCFE Regulation 87465, which clarifies that the amount of assistance that can be provided and when the physician must be called is based [...]
It is becoming increasingly common for residents and their families to hire privately paid caregivers to provide additional companionship and services to residents living in an RCFE. This type of arrangement raises many questions, including this one that we received from a Tuesday Tip subscriber:
Over 80% of assisted living residents require assistance with medications. In addition to ensuring safe handling of medications and timely administration, it is also critical to monitor for side effects–which our residents are particularly susceptible to.
Not signing off on medication assistance records (MAR) is a significant liability, compliance, and care concern. Have all medication staff audit records from the previous shift.
On Monday we held our our 2010 Assisted Living Medication Summit, and we heard from several presenters and speakers of an increase in narcotic thefts in communities around the country. While we do not have any hard statistics to confirm this, it does remind us of the importance of safeguarding narcotics in your community. The [...]
Our Tuesday Tip this week is in reponse to a question regarding when a caregiver can begin assisting residents with medications.