Hi
Just looking for peoples opinions really.
How serious would you consider it when a person who signs the mars as they pot the meds and then administer?
How serious would you consider someone who does not check the mars as they claim they have worked there long enough to know what everyone has, pots all the meds, then administers them all at the same time and then sign the mars just before going home?
I would be mortified if the nurses at my husbands nursing home did that! His medication is sometimes changed. I’m sure its not legal. Where is this happening?
What about the first scenario?
To me it’s very serious. Its only my opinion though, I’m not a medical person. A wife who’s husband is in a nursing home because of strokes and vascular dementia. I certainly would be challenging the staff if I saw that happening.
MARS charts, by law, must be accurate, complete and current. The meds must be given by (or offered) by staff trained and qualified so to do. That training and authorisation needs to have been documented.
Records must not be falsified.
These charts and other care plan records are legally required documentation.
I’ve brought a safeguarding case on behalf of my mother for backdating, back entering, misrecording, leaving entries blank, incomplete list of meds, incorrect strength on the chart, carers falsifying others’ initials (and a bunch of other stuff!)
It is serious and nurses have been struck off for so doing.
Staff must use the MARS chart for each caree each time meds are dispensed, prior to dispensing. Otherwise, how would they know what the doctor had ordered, modified or stopped?