CMT Regulations and Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under OBRA '87, medication aides in long-term care facilities must report medication errors to which person first?
- The resident's family
- The charge nurse or supervising nurse (Correct answer)
- The state health department
- The pharmacy
Correct answer: The charge nurse or supervising nurse
OBRA '87 requires medication aides to immediately report any medication errors to the supervising or charge nurse.
Question 2: Which federal law established the requirement for child-resistant packaging for most medications?
- Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
- Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) (Correct answer)
- Drug Enforcement Administration Act
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
Correct answer: Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA)
The Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) of 1970 requires child-resistant closures on most prescription and over-the-counter medications.
Question 3: A medication technician discovers a co-worker removing medications from the facility's locked cart for personal use. What is the MOST appropriate action?
- Confront the co-worker directly
- Ignore it as it is not their responsibility
- Report the incident to a supervisor immediately (Correct answer)
- Document the incident in the resident's chart
Correct answer: Report the incident to a supervisor immediately
Diversion of controlled substances is illegal and must be reported immediately to a supervisor to follow proper chain of command and legal protocols.
Question 4: Under DEA regulations, Schedule II controlled substances require which type of prescription?
- Verbal phone-in orders are acceptable
- A written prescription with no refills (Correct answer)
- Prescriptions that can be refilled up to 5 times
- An electronic prescription with one authorized refill
Correct answer: A written prescription with no refills
Schedule II substances require a written prescription and cannot be refilled; a new prescription is required for each fill.
Question 5: Which standard requires facilities to maintain a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for hazardous chemicals used in the workplace?
- OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (Correct answer)
- HIPAA Privacy Rule
- The Joint Commission standards
- FDA labeling regulations
Correct answer: OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard
OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (HazCom) requires employers to maintain SDS for all hazardous chemicals and ensure employees have access to them.
Question 6: What is the purpose of a medication administration record (MAR) in a long-term care facility?
- To track facility inventory costs
- To document each medication given, the time, and the person administering it (Correct answer)
- To communicate orders between prescribers and pharmacies
- To record patient allergies only
Correct answer: To document each medication given, the time, and the person administering it
The MAR is a legal document used to record every medication administered, the dose, time, route, and the initials of the person who gave it.
Question 7: State nurse practice acts are significant for medication technicians because they:
- Set federal minimum wage requirements for aides
- Define the legal scope of practice for medication administration by unlicensed personnel (Correct answer)
- Establish insurance billing codes for medications
- Determine which medications require a DEA schedule
Correct answer: Define the legal scope of practice for medication administration by unlicensed personnel
State nurse practice acts define what tasks, including medication administration, unlicensed assistive personnel such as medication technicians are legally permitted to perform.
CMT Regulations and Standards 2
Under OBRA '87, medication aides in long-term care facilities must report medication errors to which person first?