"I'm cool."

We have some trouble with our computer that prints our MAR's (Medication Administration Records) and sometimes the order changes that are made don't stick. This results in us having to correct the MAR's by hand.

Now, we have standing orders for most of our residents for things like Milk of Magnesia, Maalox and Imodium. Well, for some reason, one of my MAR's says it can only be administered at bedtime. As far as I can tell, this is just a data entry error, but I haven't had time to research it and fix it. In any event, I have been known to give this resident a dose of medication after supper if they need it, but the other CMA's won't do it (although they know the order is incorrect, too) because it's printed that way on the MAR.

I got outed.

So, the other day, I told the resident, "When I break the rules for you, don't tell on me or I won't be able to get away with it anymore." (I am going to get this fixed this week so that it will cease to be an issue.)

"OK. I won't. I'm cool," they said like I might be giving them something illegal instead of just an OTC medication. I wanted to laugh. And then I wondered how many times in their life they'd said those very words and I laughed out loud. This job never ceases to amuse me.