commonly used meds on ortho floors

Specialties Orthopaedic

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Specializes in LDRP.

im entering my last semester of nursing school , and we are about to be picking preceptorships.. i currently work as a pca on an ortho floor and i think im going to precept there with hopes of getting a job there after graduation.. i was wondering if you guys could give me some examples of commonly used meds on ortho floors so i can brush up before preceptorship.. ill give you a list of meds i think are commonly used.

lots and lots of pain meds: tylenol, morphine, percocet, dilaudid, vicodin?

anticoagulants: heparin, lovenox

misc meds for comorbidities: insulins, beta blackers, calcium channel blockers, digoxin, stool softeners, anticholinergics?, protonix, omeprazole, ativan, antidepressants

anything to add? anything i should specifically be concentrating on? thanks, and feel free to give any other helpful advice!

also, anyone have ortho specific worksheets/brainsheets? i have a few good medsurg ones that will suffice just fine, just wondering if theres something better out there.

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Specializes in ..

Sounds like you are already at a good place with the meds. I would advise just getting a general idea of what types of ortho injuries/surgeries the floor takes care of. With a general idea of the meds and treatments, you'll be able to ask good questions and show basic competence. Be careful. One can prepare too much. There is no way to know everything or prepare for every eventuality. That comes later. In your situation it is more important to be teachable than knowledgeable. Yes, have basic knowledge, but too much information makes you come off as a "know it all." Listen, learn, pick your moments to speak up and you'll do well.

This is a fun time in your life. Enjoy it! All the best!

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Specializes in geriatrics, dementia, ortho.

I also work as a PCA/CNA on an ortho floor, and it sounds like you have the main meds I hear all the time. Additionally, the non-narcotic pain medications like Tramadol. And tons of anti-nausea such as phenergen, compazine, etc.

I would think probably the main things to be aware of with all of these is how they interact, since it's common to really go after the patient's pain aggressively, but you don't want to oversedate someone and have to narcan them. You can probably observe a lot of that in your role right now, I'm sure you've seen patients who conk out after a small dose of phenergen and also have seen people with astronomical tolerance to narcotics. I don't know if they use it where you are, but we also semi-regularly have patients come in who're currently on methadone, typically due to heroin use but very occasionally for pain control without a history of IV drug use.

Good luck! Ortho is so much fun and very interesting!

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Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.

Some meds I give out basically all the time:

Synthroid

Colace

Senokot

MOM and Dulcolax

Aspirin

Coumadin

Lovenox

Plavix

Lovenox

Xarelto

Dilaudid

Percocet

Nucynta

Tramadol

Morphine

Prilosec

Simvastatin

Benadryl

Ambien

Zofran

Phenergan

Ancef

Clindamycin

Vancomycin

Vicodin

OxyIR, OxyCR

Tylenol

Motrin

Decadron

Toradol

Also: Gabapentin, Lyrica, antidepressants, and Ativan and Xanax. WHEW!

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The two newer ones that our floor hs started using is Nucinta and Xarelto. I feel like my shift is mostly pain med, nausea med, more pain med, antibitoics, pain med, and bowel protocol. lol.

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

ZOFRAN!!:barf01:

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