Administering Tylenol to a friend

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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?

Specializes in POST PARTUM/NURSERY/L&D/WOMENS SERVICES.

All I can think of when I read this...

Those who teach cannot do....Oops...did I say that??

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.
All I can think of when I read this...

Those who teach cannot do....Oops...did I say that??

You did, but you should probably regret it.

I mean, first, if you're trying to take the piss out of someone you should get the saying right. It's, "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Beyond that, there are a lot of brilliant people who are educators because they enjoy the work and because they recognize what an impact they can have on young learners. In addition, a significant amount of medical research and biomedical engineering comes out of universities, from the labs of professors who apparently "cannot do."

Every time I hear someone say this - especially after all the pinot gris I've had tonight - I want to reach through the computer and throttle them.

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Specializes in POST PARTUM/NURSERY/L&D/WOMENS SERVICES.
You did, but you should probably regret it.

I mean, first, if you're trying to take the piss out of someone you should get the saying right. It's, "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Beyond that, there are a lot of brilliant people who are educators because they enjoy the work and because they recognize what an impact they can have on young learners. In addition, a significant amount of medical research and biomedical engineering comes out of universities, from the labs of professors who apparently "cannot do."

Every time I hear someone say this - especially after all the pinot gris I've had tonight - I want to reach through the computer and throttle them.

Whoa Killer...I was not trying to insult the actual educators of the world....merely her instructor who CLEARLY does fall into this category...common sense can not be taught, and the instructor does not seem to have any...

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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.

They told us the same thing when I was in nursing school. Like the exact same trick question. Nursing school was a lot of scaremongering.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.
I call BS on the 911 too. If someone is able to make their own decisions, you can't force treatment on them any more than you can force it in the ER. It is not up to the nurse to call 911 if the person is oriented and capable of making their own medical decisions. No, the nurse is not liable. That's a bunch of BS too.

What is the point of calling 911? For EMS to waste their resources to show up on a person that is gong to refuse services anyway? Why call 911? Why not say, "Well, this is a dangerously high level, you really need to go to the ER and have it checked out."

However, if the person takes antihypertensives for spikes...the person should know this. They should be capable of self-treating and then if it's still high go to to the ER. But call 911? Freaking ridiculous.

I am a part-time paramedic and currently in my senior year of nursing school. Having elderly neighbors has always been a challenge. Several months ago, one neighbor with an extensive cardiac history told me what when the visiting nurse at the senior center cuts his toenails she checks his vitals. My neighbor consistently runs on the hypotensive side, yet the visiting RN insists she needs to call 911 for abnormal vitals. He has gone to the ED on two occasions at the insistence of the RN only to be discharged with instructions to be followed up his PCP. I told my neighbor if he didn't want to go to the ED to tell the RN to not call 911 and if she did call to refuse transport.

A couple of weeks ago, the visiting RN checked the neighbors vitals as part of getting his toenails clipped at the senior center and you guessed it he was a little hypotensive (BP 92/66, pulse and HR 88 NSR, SaO2 97% RA, A&Ox4). I was on duty and caught the call. After assessing my neighbor/patient, speaking with medical direction, and obtaining a refusal, I asked the RN why she called 911 when her patient was A&Ox4 and didn't want to go to the ED. She stated that she was "required to call 911 when a client's vitals were abnormal." I asked, "required by whom." She stated, "required by nursing practice."

I completed an incident report with the RN's contact information and forwarded it to our medical director. As the PP stated, activating 911 when the patient/client is A&O and going to refuse is bad practice. It places the public at large in danger with responding Fire and EMS units as well as limiting the number of available first responders for another potential emergency (Yes, I know there are exceptions, however, those are for another discussion).

I am not exactly sure what the medical director is going to do. He doesn't want RNs to feel that they can't or shouldn't call 911 as that is a disaster waiting to happen, yet, RNs shouldn't use 911 to CYA when something is abnormal either. I suggested to my MD that he reminds the RN, or whoever he ends up talking to, about patient autonomy. After we (the HCP) presents the information (risks vs benefits) to the client, it is up to the client to decide if they want to go to the ED as long as they are A&O and able to make decisions for themselves.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.
Whoa Killer...I was not trying to insult the actual educators of the world....merely her instructor who CLEARLY does fall into this category...common sense can not be taught, and the instructor does not seem to have any...

But that's what the words you wrote mean. If you didn't want to insult all educators then you shouldn't have poorly paraphrased an axiom that is intended to insult all educators.

Also, pinot gris just really opened up my feelings. :)

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But that's what the words you wrote mean. If you didn't want to insult all educators then you shouldn't have poorly paraphrased an axiom that is intended to insult all educators.

Also, pinot gris just really opened up my feelings. :)

Yes, that's why I drink wine and weep.

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Your professor is not exactly correct. Depending on the regulations of your state board of nursing, you may not be able to recommend an OTC to a friend or family member because, yes, indeed you are not allowed to prescribe any medication. However, in the example, the friend asked for Tylenol. Technically, if the friend said, "I have a headache. Do you have something I could take?" the nurse should not give her a Tylenol. That would be recommending/administering medication. The business about your own child is just so ludicrous, I can't even respond!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency, Education, Informatics.

I bet if you went an actually looked at the nurse practice act it states that the act isn't there to prohibit care of family. In the 13 states I've had license they all had some type of statement like that. Each worded a little differently, but similar.

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Specializes in TBI and SCI.
In my state, the Good Samaritan law does not apply to healthcare providers, on the clock or not. We are supposed to know more than the average lay person and should be able to act/treat accordingly without going outside our scope of practice.

oh that's interesting. I believe in Cali the Good Samaritan law applies. We actually learned it in school. It just makes sense really...

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In that case, is it illegal to give an ice pack to your friend because the cold temperature may cause a shock? Mind as well make it illegal to give your friend a glass of water.

I better go bury myself under a tree, I can't do anything!

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Specializes in Emergency.
You did, but you should probably regret it.

I mean, first, if you're trying to take the piss out of someone you should get the saying right. It's, "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Beyond that, there are a lot of brilliant people who are educators because they enjoy the work and because they recognize what an impact they can have on young learners. In addition, a significant amount of medical research and biomedical engineering comes out of universities, from the labs of professors who apparently "cannot do."

Every time I hear someone say this - especially after all the pinot gris I've had tonight - I want to reach through the computer and throttle them.

I believe the entire saying is:

"Those who can do, those who can't teach, those who can't teach administrate, those who can't administrate legislate"

I think my punctuation ain't not right, but, like, whatevah. Throttle away.

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