Obscure med help

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi everyone. I need a bit of help here. I am a student and my pt. has 22 meds. I was able to locate all but three of them. I tried Mosby's and epocrates but they weren't listed. Anyone know of a site online where I could look up meds? Thanks so much!!! Jess

Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

Can you list them? Maybe we can help :). Mosbys is my site of choice, as well.

I went to the pdr.net page but it says you have to be a physician, physician's assistant or nurse practitioner. They wanted an office phone number to register!! :( I'll just list them here:

Beelith: (Mag/Pyridoxine) I know it's Magnesium and Vit. B6 but I can't find anything about them together.

Vanganciclovir : I can assume it is an antiinfective but it's not listed anywhere

Phosphorus: I just looked up Phosphorus in Mosby's dictionary but it wasn't in the two drug references I checked. I dont have any nursing implications, side effects, etc. for it though

Thanks for any help!!!! :kiss Jess

Probably you could get about HALF of those D/C'd.

I'm thinking you are doing you med pass in a NH. Sometimes there are meds upon meds prescribed for these guys and they don't get reviewed and poor Mrs. Jones ends up having to take 22 meds!

I wonder how many duplicates this person is on.

-Russell

Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/drugs/dru687.html

Looks like the first one may have been misspelled (not at all uncommon for weird drug names! :))

On the beelith

http://cponline.hitchcock.org/apps/product/showmono.asp?cpnum=1661&monotype=nutr

I guess you have to ask if it's a self-prescribed vitamin supplement or does the person have a specific illness that requires the mag supplement. Ditto on the phos. With 22 meds it sounds like this person is a mess! Good luck :).

As a student, I remember that the hardest drugs to look up were the old drugs (MS, acetaminophen, aspirin, OTC meds), the vitamins and minerals and the brand new, just off the press drugs.

The oldies you have to look up in your pharm book.

The vitamins and mineral supplements you can look up, but really the question of, "Why are we giving this person this supplement?" may have to do with what the doc heard at the nifty meeting he went to 3 months ago. It's one of those things you learn as you go along. Sometimes the clinical nurses will be able to tell you. Doctors are using vitamins and minerals for a variety of problems and they are just little subtleties that you learn about as you go along.

The hot-off-the press stuff, sometimes the pharmacist will have the package slip to share with you. And of course, you guys have the net!

Good luck

Thanks so much for the info . You guys are great! This pt is really a learning experience! She has chronic renal failure, had a kidney transplant and her body rejected it. Now she is back on dialysis and taking a butt load of meds. She is teaching me alot though!! Thanks again!

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.
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