Administering Tylenol to a friend

[Em31200]

Hi everyone, I'm a second semester nursing student and today in class my professor said something interesting I had never considered. We are learning about medication administration currently and her question was: "Your best friend is at your house and complains of a headache. She asks you for some of your Tylenol. Do you give it to her?" Almost everyone said yes that it was ok because it was your friend, not in your job setting, and she was a consenting adult capable of making her own decision to take the medication. Our professor said that was wrong and that you can't give any medication to your friend because you are not a licensed prescriber and you could lose your license if something happened your friend. She also said that same applies to your own children. So what are you supposed to do if your kid is sick and needs cough medication? You're always accountable if something bad were to happen?

[mrsjonesRN]

I understand the liability here...the friend could have an allergic reaction then the family would sue. Or if you gave your child medicine and they had a reaction, DCS would jump right on that..Sounds like a BS excuse the lawyer would use..oh he/she was trying to be a prescriber. We do live in a lawsuit world where the hard workers get punished over the deadbeats sometimes.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

I understand the liability here...the friend could have an allergic reaction then the family would sue. Or if you gave your child medicine and they had a reaction, DCS would jump right on that..Sounds like a BS excuse the lawyer would use..oh he/she was trying to be a prescriber. We do live in a lawsuit world where the hard workers get punished over the deadbeats sometimes.

No they wouldn't. There is no law on the books anywhere that a parent, whether a nurse or not, cannot give their child an appropriate dose of an OTC medicine. It doesn't make her attempting to be "a prescriber" any more than Susie schoolteacher is attempting to be a "prescriber" when she gives her child an appropriate dose of children's Tylenol.

And if my child has a reaction to an OTC med that I gave her that (to my knowledge) she was not allergic to, how is a lawyer getting involved? I'm going to sue myself? My husband is going to sue me? Let him try.

This is just silly. There is ZERO liability for a nurse to give his or her own child an appropriate dose of an OTC medicine. That's why they are available over the counter!!!!

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

I'll need a head CT with contrast first.

Hehehe this reminded me of the time one of my step-daughters (an admitted hypochondriac) had a mild headache and convinced herself that she had a brain tumor.

She was stretched out on my sofa, whining about needing a CAT scan. My daughter (who was about 10 at the time) picked up our cat, waved him over her head and said,

"There, you've had a cat scan. Now shut up already!!"

Have I mentioned I love my daughter??

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

A better example is a family member of a patient asks for Tylenol while you're working. Per policy, you would not be able to give it to her as you're in a hospital and she is not a patient with an order. At home? Different story.

Isn't DCS some sort of child services? Child services would not jump on you for an allergic reaction to over the counter meds. If you were giving them a dose to make them sleep or make them sick and they over dosed, they would probably get involved.

[scjudyb]

Well, I think we all agree that we would give the friend the Tylenol without worry.

But there's a difference between giving a friend Tylenol and handing it out to a patient in a hospital or other healthcare setting without an order from a physician.

Another important consideration when giving OTC medications to patients in any healthcare setting (NOT FRIENDS AT HOME) is that all medications must be reviewed for potential interactions. How much acetaminophen do they take in 24 hours, etc? So maybe the lecture was misperceived? I don't think anyone will lose their license over giving their friends Tylenol, but I would not give it to a patient without a physician's order, OTC or not.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

I don't think many nurses would ever give out OTC medication on the job without an order. That would not be very prudent.

[Karou]

I wouldn't bat an eye at giving my coworker some Tylenol while at work. Our employee supply runs out quickly of certain medications, especially ibuprofen. It takes an act of God for pharmacy to refill it for us. I always bring my own bottle, and if a coworker asks, I always let them have it. Same goes for my stash of halls cough drops.

Would not do for a patient/patients visitor, but for a coworker or friend then I wouldn't even think about it.

Agree with other posters who said they wouldn't give anything to a kids friend without the parents permission. I would call the parent first and ask them if they thought the kid needed it, then I would give it to them if the parent agreed. I don't want a furious parent on me for letting their child have a non-gluten free cupcake, so you bet I'd ask them about any OTC medication first.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Agree with other posters who said they wouldn't give anything to a kids friend without the parents permission. I would call the parent first and ask them if they thought the kid needed it, then I would give it to them if the parent agreed. I don't want a furious parent on me for letting their child have a non-gluten free cupcake, so you bet I'd ask them about any OTC medication first.

Absolutely!

[mrsjonesRN]

No they wouldn't. There is no law on the books anywhere that a parent, whether a nurse or not, cannot give their child an appropriate dose of an OTC medicine. It doesn't make her attempting to be "a prescriber" any more than Susie schoolteacher is attempting to be a "prescriber" when she gives her child an appropriate dose of children's Tylenol.

And if my child has a reaction to an OTC med that I gave her that (to my knowledge) she was not allergic to, how is a lawyer getting involved? I'm going to sue myself? My husband is going to sue me? Let him try.

This is just silly. There is ZERO liability for a nurse to give his or her own child an appropriate dose of an OTC medicine. That's why they are available over the counter!!!!

I'm not saying I that I AGREE there is liability here. I'm just saying that I can see how a twisted lawyer or dcs worker could say something stupid such as that.

[TriciaJ, RN]

No, the one to be mad at was YOU, because you totally failed this patient.

You accepted a report that the patient was "just fine", while complaining that he needed frequent suctioning. You apparently didn't bring your charge nurse up to date.

You left a deteriorating patient alone for an hour-no mention of notifying the charge nurse that he needed frequent monitoring.

You actually became annoyed that he "forced" you to spend so much time with him.

If the "idiots in charge" didn't recognize his acuity, why didn't you open your mouth and say something?

You called it a "really annoying" situation, and whined that it wasn't therapeutic for you.

Frankly, I sincerely hope that this entire story is bad fiction, because a nurse who acts like this should not be anywhere near actual patients.

I'm having a very hard time believing that you are a nurse at all, much less a critical care nurse.

I think I'm going to refrain from reading anything else you post-there are much more entertaining ways to waste time than reading utter dreck.

Nursingaround would have saved the poor guy in spite of everyone's incompetence. And been humble about it, too.

[TriciaJ, RN]

[quote=RNdynamic Also, it was very annoying and very untherapeutic for me. Those were my feelings. It isn't as if I can control my neurochemistry.

.

Untherapeutic? Since when do you go to work for your own therapy? How well does that usually work?

[WellThatsOod]

Untherapeutic? Since when do you go to work for your own therapy? How well does that usually work?

WHAT?!? Suctioning patients is extremely therapeutic *scoffs*

Lol okay back to studying...