Common meds

[Mommy of 2]

Hi all,

Just wanted to know what common medications do you give to your patients? And have you ever experienced side effects that were difficult to notice?

Thanks.

[Mommy of 2]

Thanks you all.

[harnof]

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!

[pixie120]

"That's a really broad question asking for the most common meds. It really depends on what type of floor/facility you're working at. On a cardiac tele floor, I gave of course lots of cardiac meds. I can't help you as far the LTC though...but I'm sure you'll still come across Coumadin, BP meds, stool softeners/laxatives, and antiseizure meds along with dementia and psych meds. Alot of pts I admitted from LTC seemed to be on a lot of these. As far as the side effects, I suggest you get a pocket drug guide. Don't try to go for rare side effects like fulminant liver failure or something like that...try to remember the ones you see most often. Ex. stool softeners..look out for diarrhea. BP med look out for s/s of low BP."

Thanks himilia but I was just referring to LTC meds. :)

The list from pistolchick is a great list.

A lot of OTC meds every vitamin, MVI, Calcium, TUms, Prilosec, B-vitamins, C, Zinc, ; Lactulose, Miralax.

A list to learn is what is a C-2, C-3 and C-4 (Morphine, then Vicodin, then Ativan (even C-5)

then all the opposite meds, Imodium, cough syrup, cough drops, ear meds, hair/scalp and skin meds, typical

treatments: Hydrocolloid/ Duoderm

Window dressing/ (can see skin thru it, many different brand names)

Neosporin/Triple ABO/

Bacitracin/Bactrim

Wound vac dressings

Dry dressing 4x4 gauze/4x4 split dressing for Tube feed sites

"Fish" pink saline containers

The most common side effects and almost every drug has these, so hard to isolate culprit: dry mouth, dry eyes, GI upset, constipation and/or diarrhea. In the geriatric population and some co-morbities have these as s/sx OF the disease so mostly MD's just treat the symptoms. Sometimes the side effect is the reason the drug prescribed, ie Lactulose to pull off ammonia by giving liver impaired person diarrhea, Depakote side effect behavior/mood stabilizer (med is an anti-seizure drug), side effect of aspirin is thins the blood, side effect of narcotics is constipation so if patient has c-diff and takes narcotics, might have diarrhea abated.

A lot of the anti-constipation meds don't work very well in the elderly, see a lot of lactulose and miralax prescribed now routinely instead of the BM coctails of yesteryear.

[suzi0612]

stool meds:

colace

lactulose

miralax

metamucil

reguloid (ick)

senna/senna-s

milk of magnesia (!)

stool meds can be difficult to accurately regulate in LTC. You must rely 1) Your aides knowing the difference between one or two loose stools and full-blown diarrhea and 2) Excellent communication to that effect.

heart/BP:

lisinopril

metoprolol

digoxin

cardizem

coreg

hydralazine

nitro: PRN tabs, daily patches, and messy, annoying, time-consuming paste

frequently MDs will write orders for these to be held if SBP

psych:

prozac

celexa

abilify

effexor

paxil

risperdal

aricept

namenda

sinemet (carvidopa/levodopa)

ativan

xanax

ambien (a little silly I think, but I see it a lot - most of my residents who have this prescribed sleep all the time, seemingly without any issues)

analgesics:

darvocet (I heard that this was recently considered unsafe for geriatric populations, but my facility still gives it?)

percocet

neurontin

antilipidemics:

lipitor

simvastatin

anticoagulants:

coumadin (#1)

occassionally lovenox or heparin

oral antidiabetics:

glipizide

metformin

multivitamins, of course, and calcium, potassium

LASIX! hydrochlorathiazide (which, I personally think is REALLY fun to say, especially three times fast...)

albuterol

combivent

atrovent

advair

serevent

your inhaled corticosteroids at the bottom, there, and then of course some are MDIs, some are nebulizers, some could be either/or!

various eye gtts... we have a unit I jokingly call the "Hall of Glaucoma"... I swear every single resident has 1 or more bottles daily/bid/TID, you name it.

travatan

lumigan

alphagan

xalatan

timoptic

I'll take a more critical look at the MAR tomorrow and see if there's anything common that I may have missed...

I work in LTC! you definitely hit all of them on the head! I give all of those drugs you just said! :):)