New ER to me. I dropped a pill on the computer and didn't want to give it. My preceptor did a fyi and said it was okay to give. I disagree.
ERs clean their own rooms. Computers are frequently missed or not fully wiped down. Those counters get urine and god knows what else on them. People don't wash their hands as well here. I don't think I would take a pill that fell on the computer desk so why should a patient? I get those cups aren't sterile but they are better than a computer where stuff gets put on it. Precautions aren't heavily practiced so who knows what could be passed to patient.
So do you give a pill that dropped on a computer screen?
I don't because it's just not clean. I don't even like pouring the pills out on countertops for counting. Having said that, I was dropping things, not just pills and not just at work. It ended up being a health issue. When it started, I didn't know what was going on and there is a big stigma if you drop too many pills, which is about 2. I say the right thing is to discard the pill but I also understand not wanting too.
Even in the best of circumstances the hospitals and similar settings are much dirtier than our home environments , and the organisms can also be worse; so it's just not a good practice. I would have felt terrible if I had passed on an infection. I worked in a lab. The hospitals are filthy. We used to do cultures of entire floors, and they are disgusting.
I think it depends upon the situation. Obviously it isn't good practice, but what is the whole picture. Is it easy to get a replacement pill? Or will it take more than a few minutes. What is the pill for and is it a controlled substance.
In a perfect world, get a replacement but we all know a perfect world doesn't exist.
It wasnt really a choice (I guess as long as it wasnt on floor qualifies but felt that was too broad) if it is dropped on pt or bed I give it. But thats about it.
I have to admit I have with the patient permission. It was medication they supplied and costly. She was married to a doctor and told me that if I throw that away she will charge the facility. She went on to say that with they hydrochloride in our tummies anything on it would surely be destroyed. I smiled at the first part of what she said and began to ponder about pills and stomach content.
I remember as a student during clinicals a patient dropped their pill onto their dinner plate, the patient picked it up and was about to put it into their mouth when the nurse told them not to take that pill because the plate was dirty. I stood quietly for a minute, but then I just had to ask: "why is it bad for someone to eat something on their dinner plate?", my precepting nurse responded that it's fine for the patient toeat something off of their plate, but they don't eat pills.
I'm still not sure what she thought happened with pills that was different than food, but ever since then I'm skeptical about just agreeing with another nurse about when a 'dropped' pill is still safe to swallow without further clarification of what they are talking about.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I appreciate your diligence, however if a pill is dropped on your computer station.. I can't see the contamination issue. It's NOT that easy to " get another pill". Especially if it's a scheduled drug.
Story not about a pill I dropped, but that my patient dropped. I was working at the time on the in-patient heart failure floor. The patients were usually young and typically in-house until transplant, many 12-18 months. So the unit's policy unlike most other floors was to leave the pills at the patient's bedside and the patient was allowed to self-administer PO meds they had been educated on once they were awake. The unit's goal in doing this was to allow these patient's to have control over an aspect of their care. Anyways, back to the story. I had left the patient's pills for him to take and a short time later, I went to check in on this patient, he was on his hands and knees and was obviously looking for something. He informed me he had dropped a pill, I told him I would just go get another from the Pyxis. He stated that the cost of the particular pill he had dropped was $750 per dose and that he would take the pill that he had dropped on the floor. It still seems crazy to me that one pill can cost an individual $750.
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Garden,RN, ASN, RN
144 Posts
I don't because it's just not clean. I don't even like pouring the pills out on countertops for counting. Having said that, I was dropping things, not just pills and not just at work. It ended up being a health issue. When it started, I didn't know what was going on and there is a big stigma if you drop too many pills, which is about 2. I say the right thing is to discard the pill but I also understand not wanting too.
Even in the best of circumstances the hospitals and similar settings are much dirtier than our home environments , and the organisms can also be worse; so it's just not a good practice. I would have felt terrible if I had passed on an infection. I worked in a lab. The hospitals are filthy. We used to do cultures of entire floors, and they are disgusting.