TOP 10 Meds?

Larry77, RN · Oct 6, 2006

Don't get yourself overwhelmed trying to learn all of the meds mentioned you should not need to know every one you are PRECEPTING..just ask questions and keep a drug book handy. Take in the experience as an experience not as a stressful new job :)

And HAVE FUN!!!!

Holly27 · Oct 6, 2006

I think the Top 10 is always different depending on what floor you work on. But when I was in clinicals they all had one thing in common

Insulin!

LOL!:monkeydance:

ceen · Oct 6, 2006

Lasix

NYCRN16 · Oct 6, 2006

Hi...
I was hoping that I could get some more help from you wonderful nurses.
I am starting my last clinical rotation in the ER this weekend. I would like to know what you think are the top 10 (or 20) meds that are frequently used in the ER. I want to be as prepared as I can for this rotation, so I would like to make some med cards before the weekend.
Any help would be most appreciated.
Thank you,
Kyle

Every hospital will use different things, some of the meds I have seen on this thread that others use often, we dont use that much or I havent even heard of at all. Its ok if you dont know some of them, you can always look it up and you should always look up anything you dont know before its given. I will list more than 10 since there are so many, but these are what I think I use most frequently:

To make it easier for you I will break it down depending on what type of patient you have so that you can organize your cards better. This is by no means all of the meds, just common ones I use in my hospital. You dont even have to write down all the info on all these meds, just categorize them and then look them up as you come across them.

Cardiac patients: Metoprolol, Heparin, aspirin, nitroglycerine (in multiple forms, paste, drip and sublingual), lasix, lovenox.

Abd pain/vomiting: Morphine, Reglan, Zofran, Pepcid

Septic patients: Zosyn, Vancomycin, amikacin. Keep in mind that different hospitals use different antibiotics for their sepsis protocol, so if they use different things at this hospital dont worry if you dont have the right cards it prepared before then. Remember too that septic patients sometimes needs vasopressors.

Asthma: Prednisone, Solumedrol, atrovent, albuterol, xopenex.

Allergic reaction: Pepcid, prednisone, subcutaneous epinepherine, benadryl

Common vasopressors: Dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylephrine, dobutamine.

Pain meds: morphine, toradol, dilaudid, demerol

Consious sedation: Versed, fentanyl, etomadate, propofol

Rapid sequence intubation: succinylcholine, vecuronium, etomidate (we use etomadate and succs most of the time, but every place is different)

Seizures: dilantin, fosphenytoin, valium, phenobarbital, ativan

Peds: dexamethasone, tylenol and motrin (know that dose in mg/kg the triage nurse will give this before the doc sees the patient), claforan, ampicillin, gentamycin, flagyl, ketamine, augmentin, amoxicillin, omnicef, racemic epinephrine, xopenex.

I hope this helps. I just got off a shift and Im tired, so I hope this makes sense. Please feel free to add to this list!

TopherSRN · Oct 6, 2006

Consious sedation: propofol

:nono:

NYCRN16 · Oct 7, 2006

This is not necessarily wrong. Maybe in your hospital they dont use this, but in mine we do. Every hospital is different, we use propofol all the time in adult patients and have never had a problem. We push almost everything, and in some hospitals where some of my friends work they are not even allowed to push morphine. I guess it depends on the skill of the nurses that you have working there, and the policy of the hospital. If you work in an ER with high acuity you are used to doing a lot, and if you dont than they tend to curb what the nurses can do. As long as you follow your hospital policy on what you give you are not breaking any rules. I know this has been discussed ad nauseam about if we are or are not allowed to give propofol, but there is no evidence that it is out of our scope of practice to give this drug during consious sedation when you are giving it in a controlled setting with a doctor right there and airway equip at the bedside. I have seen more problems with versed and fentanyl than with propofol.