what time do you give meds....

[Nurseismade RN]

just a quick survey.....

when do you give your meds???........

for example do you give your 10pm meds at say 8pm. I heard that if it is a HS med....you can give it when the patient normally goes to bed even if the patient goes to sleep at 7:30pm. However i feel some are giving meds early so that they can finish passing meds and chart and leave on time.....is that okay?

[loriangel14, RN]

Where I work the HS meds are scheduled for 2100 hrs and have a 30 min window each way, so we pass meds between 2030 and 2130. Our charge is okay with us starting a bit early (2015) but any earlier would be frowned on.

[cherokeesummer]

We have a one hour window before and after the scheduled time to administer meds.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

We have a one hour window before and after the scheduled time to administer meds.

Us too.

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

I work dayshift, and our morning meds are due at 9AM, but I usually start passing meds just as soon as I'm done with assessments, around, 7:45 or so. Things can get crazy, and somethings that's the only way I can get finished.

[Jacobero]

We have an hour each way. I do try to combine as much as I can, like if someone is perscribed a multivitamin and the nurse before me puts it at 4pm, I might go ahead and give it with the 6 pm's as long as there is no contraindication.

Or I'd just change the time on that. We have a nurse who is notorious for putting meds at really strange times, for no clinical reason.

[sofaraway04]

the 8:00 meds I start giving as soon as handover is finished usually 7:45ish, that'll take me 60-90 minutes normally.

the 12:00 meds i'll start giving from 12:00, theres never time to start early and sometimes I might not get started until 12:30 at this time i give the 12:00 and 14:00 together unless a specific reason not to.

the 18:00 wil start at 17:00 if possible, and will give the 18:00 and 20:00 togetehr unless a reason not too.

then the 22:00 meds will give straight after night shift handover so usually 21:15

[november17, ASN, RN]

I generally try to pass them around the due times..2100 for our evening pass and then the odd antibiotics here and there throughout the night. I often have people requesting pain meds. When people request pain meds after 2000 I will bring their 2100 meds too. Believe it or not I usually get finished by 2100, at which point I pass the rest of the meds. If a person is diabetic with an HS dose of insulin/lantus/SS I usually

will not pass those early though and will give them as close to the due time as humanly possible or as the information about their glucose is available.

Thankfully the pumps we use can be set to timers so if there is an IV infusing, I can set the medication to start infusing at whatever time it is due. That way I can hang it whenever I get a minute and then just pop back later and make sure it's infusing/infused. It gives me pinpoint accuracy as to the infusion time and lets me get the med to the patient exactly when it is due, not a half hour early/late. Pharmacy sends our meds anywhere from 3-4 hours early. So far it's never been a problem.

[Achoo!, LPN]

We have an hour window between when the drug is ordered. We can give an hour before or an hour after.

[jesbetts]

We have a 1 hr window either way, but our HS meds we can start passing at 6 pm, or as soon as the residents finish dinner. We start our 5pm meds at 4pm.

[pirituba]

well i work in a nursing home and if is scheduled at hs, i will ask the patient what time is there bed time. if there is no other indication, i should not give, i give. if it is a sleeping like ambien, i only can give that after 9:30 pm, if there other meds that are scheduled around the same time, and there are o.k to give together, will give them all together. i usually i know if they're going to get a sleeping pill or not. after dinner at some point at stop by and assess them and will ask if they may think they are going to get a sleeping pill or not, if they usually gets them.

raquel

[jessi1106, BSN, RN]

Hmmm. I work the evening shift and feel like I am constantly giving meds!

I usu. have 4 pts.

There are usu standard 1700 and 2100.

But I usually have 1800, 2000, and 2200 on at least a couple pts....not to mention all of the prns.....

I work on a unit where lots of the pt population prefer their IV dilaudid with benadryl and phenergan...a huge part of my shift is running to the med room.

We too have an hour window, I can cluster the 1700/1800 and 2100/2200 but I try to hang abx very close to actual time due.