ethical?

U.S.A. Ohio

Published

I am a RN who just started this vitamin stuff and since I started I have gone off any medicine I took for arthritis, daily headaches, my depression medicine and my anxiety medicine. Also i dont use lotion or chapstick several times an hour while at work -like I used to. AND after I finish shampooing with dandruff shampoo I don't have dandruff anymore ( I used to have it all the time). Anyway I want to become a distributor next month to help with the cost of it. My question is.....In the interest of keeping my liscence, if I get into a dicsussion with a patient about any of the above, what am I allowed to say, if anything? I mean if I were to say "My arthritis is totally gone" and they say "How?" do I just say "Oh, I can't tell you". I dont plan on bringing any of this up but I feel like I felt when I was 20, and it's kind of hard not to talk about at this point. How do I cover myself in case I slip?

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Specializes in MS Home Health.

You could always say my syptoms are no longer present. You also by law cannot prescribe doses of supplements. So you cannot say, "this pill has 500 mg of vitamin C and that should be enough for you" etc. By law that is prescribing. I had an entire class on this topics in my graduate program. You can say vitamin C is good for blah blah blah . You just cannot say 500 mg of Vitamin C is what you need, should take, etc , you get the drift.

renerian

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

Your workplace is not the place to sell your item, period. :) Truly, your personal health shouldn't really be coming up, so there shouldn't be an instance of the patient asking you how your arthritis went away. I'm glad for you that you are feeling better, but it's not your place to diagnose, prescribe, or recommend medical treatments, especially when you may potentially be benefitting financially from it.

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Specializes in MS Home Health.

I did not get the impression you would be selling to your patients that would not be ethical but outside that arena would be with the stipulations noted.

renerian

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Specializes in med/surg, rural, ER.

I, too am an RN who has had amazing results after starting on the #1 multivitamin in North America (by independant researchers). I love representing this company in my off time as I educate and help people achieve physical healing (and if they decide to join the business side, help them gain financial freedom) I do not ever "sell" this product to my patients. I do recommend vitamins/herbs--but not a specific brand. If they have skin problems I tell them about Essential Fatty Acids/Omega3,6&9s. If they have horrible allergies I tell them there is research out there that suggests a quality multi-vitamin could help their condition. If they ask me for suggestions on brands I tell them to look at the book "The Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements" by Dr. Lyle McWilliams as it compares over 1,000 multi-vits on the market in the US and Canada.

Enjoy your new-found health! Learn all you can about nutrition, herbs and vitamins. Use your new knowledge and passion to educate others; offer health seminars/classes. (Again, in these make sure to do more educating than selling.) Have fun and good luck!

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thanks all for posting. no i certainly do not plan to sell this to any of my pts. lol. but i have found myself discussing things like- boy allergies are certainly bad this time of the the year? do you have allergies? what do you take? (pts asking me this question) and i felt funny even saying- oh you know claritin or an occasional benadryl- just in conversation. so it was more along those lines. i think discussing personal medicinal habits in general are a no-no so i have kept those subjects very light.

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