Can you give an opioid without a Dr's order?

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Tenebrae said:

At the risk of being sarcastic well duh

The poster quoted me. I figured they were talking to me

As for the opioid epidemic, thanks US pharma and the Sacklers. 

Yes, I was talking to you. Most nurses in any country would go the route you mentioned. But the topic at hand is giving an opioid without an order...

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

EdieBrous said:

In the U.S. your "initiative" does not include diagnosing/ordering diagnostics or prescribing & I am glad you have had good experiences with doctors, but the nursing boards still consider this to be practicing outside of your legal scope.  You are taking a risk by thinking you can do this without standing orders or protocols.  Just ask any nurse who has been disciplined for doing so.  Look at your own nurse practice act and see what it says - maybe also look at posted disciplinary actions.

I'm not talking diagnostics. I find it absurd that you have to get an order for a BGL test or a sending a urine sample. 

I don't diagnose, or prescribe yet . 

Nurses get disiplined here for sleeping with patients, taking financial advantage of patients, sexual or physical abuse, coming to work drunk or stoned, inappropriate access of information of patients information to whom they are not caring for. dodgy clinical practice with no supporting clinical rationale.  etc. Never has a nurse been displined for doing a non ordered BGL stick or an ECG on a patient that had a fall..  

You are trying to apply US nursing standards to a country that is not the US. And before you @ me with the belief that the US way of doing things is far superior, thats why some citizens of the world have an issue with some US citizens

[Kitiger, RN]

I didn't see anyone claiming that "the US way of doing things is far superior". 

It might be helpful - in this thread, anyway - to state which country we are in.

And, yes, I'm in the USA. Not all of us are that rude.

[EdieBrous, BSN, MSN]

I have no idea where your hostility is coming from or why you are so antagonistic & misinterpreting what I am saying as "U S. Superiority." Ekgs & U/As ARE diagnostics.  Whether you think it is ridiculous or not, nurses cannot have them done without orders in this country. No one said that is better. I was simply responding to your remark for nurses in the USA to understand. BTW, in my opinion,  the US has the WORST health care in the advanced world. In fact,  it is inexcusable how much of our GDP is spent for such bad outcomes.  In European countries with national health coverage,  there is better primary care,  lower maternal mortality, longer lifespans, healthier populations, etc. You make a lot of insulting assumptions about Americans.  We should be able to discuss things more professionally. 

[KrysyRN, BSN]

My first thought was that a medication aide was asking this question. 

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

KrysyRN said:

My first thought was that a medication aide was asking this question. 

That makes sense.