Dilaudid

[dscott76]

I am a junior in nursing school and will not cover medications in depth until my fall semester. I work as a Tech at an acute care nursing facility and the other day my patient was asking for his pain medication. The nurse (an LPN) said she had to go find Alisha (an RN)....the RN came in to give him his medication which was Dilaudid IV. Why did the LPN need an RN to give this medication for her. Are there restrictions on meds that Lpn's can give. Im very curious.

[I RN A]

It is out of the scope of practice for LVN to administer IV drugs, unless the LVN Iis IV certified. At least in Cali this is. This actually is NCLEX question.

[OutlawNurse86, BSN, RN]

At my hospital, they released a "revised" list of IV meds that LVNs can push. Dilaudid and Labetolol are now included. Dilaudid scares me. I have personally learned that Narcan is a WONDERFUL thing. Yet, I have had 80+yr olds who get full doses of it and it doesn't even make them drowsy.

I ALMOST got to push atropine once. We were in a code and the House Sup handed me the atropine. I was getting ready to push it (secretly thinking "YAY! I get to do something!"), when the PCU RN yanked it out of my hand... Dang...

Of course, where I work, and LVN does dang near everything an RN does (with an RN co-signing behind us though). We are mostly LVNs, we are hard up for RNs.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Without being snarky, I say call your board of nursing and ask.

They usually list opinions at every board meeting. We had 2 4" loose leaf notebooks of what each grade of nurse could do. When we would get travelers from another state they'd often do stuff we couldn't do. Seems they would be at least given a list of the don'ts.

South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation

For example here are the opinions of the South Carolina BON

South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation

[nursel56]

In some states I believe you need to hold a valid RN license to pass medications.

I can't think of any state that would not allow LPN/LVNs to pass meds. The questions arise from lack of clarity about IV meds, who, what, when, where and how. The common denominator being the theoretical risk of harm and/or death if the patient goes bad on you, (you won't know what to do). Less time in nursing school directly translates into higher risk of harm/death to the patient, even though in California LVNs work in Critical Care, are ACLS trained, and are on IV teams!!

I'd say as so many have before, check what YOUR state guidelines are. They differ significantly from state to state.

[Maria Lenore,RN]

Dilaudid, trademark for an opioid analgesic (hydromorphone hydrochloride).

[delilas]

Even IV certified, most states don't allow LPNs to give medications. This is how the NCLEXPN is formatted, for the most part; it doesn't ever refer to IV medications, only solutions. In Ohio, the only exception to the rule for LPN-IVs are we can hang ATB mixtures after the first was hung by an RN.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/nursing/lpn/b.htm

I disagree. Here is a list of who can do what when and how.

[nursel56]

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/nursing/lpn/b.htm

I disagree. Here is a list of who can do what when and how.

What an excellent link! Thanks P RN. I'm going to "favorite" it, even though it appears from my quick initial look at it, California is excepted from the list. This is the first document I've seen that summarizes state laws in one location. It really bugs me when people make inaccurate declarations even if they contain qualifiers such as "correct me if I'm wrong but. . ." or " I believe such and such. . ."

[pepitofeliz]

I just wanted to know, if there are any nurses out there that work prn only, and pay for health insurance from out of pocket. Any advice as for what insurance companies are recomemded?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

In some states I believe you need to hold a valid RN license to pass medications.

Really? No LVNs/LPNs giving meds? :) Those states have no room to whine about nursing shortages if they're knocking out a valid sector of nursing :) JMHO

I've never heard of only RNs giving meds (limits on IVs- yes... regular meds - oral, rectal, topical, otic, opththtalmic, tube...seen all of those given by LVNs- and Med Aids in many states give the orals, topicals, otic, and opthalmic meds and do it VERY well since that's what they focused on- not all of the other tasks ).

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

In some states LPNs can give IV meds but as far as I know they are not to give IV PUSH medications especially something like Dilaudid.

Depends on the state, and then the city.... in TX, one city allowed LVNs to start IVs and give IVPBs and manage fluids but not give push meds...another city wouldn't let them start the IVs, but the could give push meds... depended on the hospital IV cert class at the specific hospital :))

[AgentBeast, BSN, RN]

Really? No LVNs/LPNs giving meds? :) Those states have no room to whine about nursing shortages if they're knocking out a valid sector of nursing :) JMHO

I've never heard of only RNs giving meds (limits on IVs- yes... regular meds - oral, rectal, topical, otic, opththtalmic, tube...seen all of those given by LVNs- and Med Aids in many states give the orals, topicals, otic, and opthalmic meds and do it VERY well since that's what they focused on- not all of the other tasks ).

Yeah, it was supposed to be IV meds. This thread is almost a year old.