It really depends on your state scope for MAs with regard to medications. In our state, MAs can only administer vaccines, but no medications. So, in our case, we allow them to carry narcan if they want-like a community member would carry...but our own purchased supply can only be administered by a nurse or provider.
If an MA administered their community provided dose, they would be covered under good Samaritan laws, but if they administered our emergency medication supply, they could be subject to liability...although, our legal team feels that, given it is a life-saving medication, it would like not come under too much scrutiny.
We also do mock codes specifically re: Narcan---so, if a patient is found unconscious, we admin narcan regardless. You never know when someone was exposed to an opioid, and if something else was going on, the narcan would not harm them. At times, narcan is delayed because people don't "think" this is the problem...so, they need to be reminded-no matter what they look like, who they are, whether their chart has opioids listed on it, or notations about substance use---it doesn't matter---we admin narcan and then continue on with our assessment...
Hope that helps,
Mary
Mary Blankson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FAAN
Chief Nursing Officer
Community Health Center, Inc.
675 Main Street,
Middletown, CT, 06457
Cell: (860)227-5432
mary@chc1.com
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