Acetaminophen: Why?

[seks]

It seems like 90% of the patients in my internal/acute med unit gets acetaminophen (325, 500, 650, 1000) that is scheduled tid or qid.

I never found out what the rationale behind it is? Is it just a proactive way to manage pain? The ones that usually don't get them are the ones with liver failure

[CrazierThanYou]

Aurora77 said:

Why dreaded? In my experience it is amazing in assisting with post op pain management.

perhaps that was a bit dramatic. It's mostly our post op patients that get it but for a while, EVERYONE was getting it. But I can't really tell it helps much and many of my coworkers agree.

I sometimes have to convince patients to let me hang it because they always throw the old "Tylenol is like water for me" line.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I work on an ortho unit and tylenol is a great pain reliever, especially used with a narcotic. We don't usually give the combo meds (percocet/norco) so we can adjust one without worrying about the 4 G max. We love IV tylenol too (other than it is like molasses and you have make sure it actually runs), but it is expensive, so now it is reserved for those that cannot tolerate anything PO. post ops usually can't take an NSAID b/c of bleeding issues.

Personally, I have started taking it again b/c motrin (and the like) tear my stomach up.

I think part of the problem is that the "Tylenol" brand is more than acetaminophen and people are not educated about it: that it can be in multiple products.