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Ok, so I had a little problem with one of my mom's nurses in the nursing home that she is in. This women was going to withold my mother's IV antibioitics because she "didn't think they were working." My mom's doctor seemed pretty adamant that she had to be on this medicine for 8 weeks to get rid of her staph infection. So my question is, does this nurse have the right to withold treatment from my mother? I am not sure that it matters, but the nurse is an LPN.
Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but we don't know the whole story and we really can't judge the nurse without it. Say you have a patient on Vanco and Timentin pending culture results, culture comes back at 0600 as MRSA. MD won't be in to make rounds until ~1000. You don't give the 0900 Timentin dose because the bacteria is resistant to it and you know the MD's going to d/c it anyway. Is that okay? Well, technically, no. You should either give the med as ordered or call the MD with the culture result and get an order to d/c the med. But in the real world, would you call for something like that? Of course not. And could a family member be potentially mad at you for not giving their loved one the antibiotic that the doctor said she needed? It's possible.
Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but we don't know the whole story and we really can't judge the nurse without it. Say you have a patient on Vanco and Timentin pending culture results, culture comes back at 0600 as MRSA. MD won't be in to make rounds until ~1000. You don't give the 0900 Timentin dose because the bacteria is resistant to it and you know the MD's going to d/c it anyway. Is that okay? Well, technically, no. You should either give the med as ordered or call the MD with the culture result and get an order to d/c the med. But in the real world, would you call for something like that? Of course not. And could a family member be potentially mad at you for not giving their loved one the antibiotic that the doctor said she needed? It's possible.
Thats a reasonable situation, but the OP said the MD wanted her mom on the abx for weeks for a staph infection, and the LPN said "I don't think its working". Totally different scenario. Long term abx are important, especially if you don't want to risk the staph to become resistant by stopping too soon.
Jenni, good for you for sticking it out! Was there any follow up?
TazziRN, RN
6,487 Posts
I never understood that......Reglan calms vomiting but increases pooping