Medication tidbits an ER nurse should always know

Specialties Emergency

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Hi all...I am currently doing an externship in the ER and even though I can't administer medications, I've picked up on a lot of important facts you have to remember about certain medications from watching my preceptor. Things like potassium and any other electrolytes always go on a pump with the pt on the monitor, bentyl is never given IVP, always put older people on a spo2 with narcs, IV antibiotics can make people hypotensive. I was just reading another thread about inapsine sending people into prolonged QT and arrhythimas which is something I've never heard even though we've given our pts inapsine. So I want to know...what are those things I should ALWAYS think about when giving certian meds? I'm sure theres a ton more out there!

I suppose what I've learned is almost all IV push meds can be given slowly. And if possible, diluted. I once pushed Dilaudid a little faster than I should have, and the patient felt funny.

Nitro in any form. Have the IV in place first. Have a bag of NS hanging ready. I have seen it drop systolic BP 40+ points.

DC :-)

I have found that unless someone is having a left ventricular infarct, large anterior infarct causing a substantial drop in ejection fraction, or pt took Erectile dysfunction med within last 24 hours, the drop in Bp is very transient. If your Pt's BP is high your usually okay with NTG sublingual due to its fast half life.

Specializes in ICU,ANTICOAG,ACUTE STROKE,EDU,RESEARCH.

No one has mentioned checking patients PMH or current drug medication history to see if there is any reason not to give the drug, if the dosage needs to be lowered (eg in the elderly, renal impairment, liver impairment)

I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet re checking medication history, especially since I had a friend admitted to ER with quite unusual symptoms that didn't fit the pattern of anything I'd ever seen. When I asked the staff if they wanted a list of her medication they told me it wasn't important at that time. She was on the verge of serotonin syndrome due to having had a lot of new meds for depression and hypertension , and then a G.A for a hernia repair plus pain killers and ABx. They kept giving her more morphine because she was complaining of abdo cramps. Thankfully they gave her 2 litres of saline over 2 hours becasue she was so dehydrated and I think that prevented a full blown syndrome. They still never made a diagnosis even though they kept her in hospital for 2 days.

Think interactions

a) drug-drug

b) drug-food/drink

c) drug-condition

Delirium is strongly associated with anticholinergic activity; drugs of different classes, including tricyclic antidepressants and traditional high-dose neuroleptics, constitute a high-risk group. A large number of drugs, including benzodiazepines, sedatives, dopamine-activating drugs, antiepileptics, histamine H2 receptor blockers, digitalis and analgesics, are less frequently associated with delirious reactions and constitute a medium-high-risk group. These should all be used with caution in elderly, frail and those with dementia.

Don't give betablockers to asthmatics

Antibiotics, anticoagulants, digoxin, diuretics, hypoglycaemic agents,and NSAIDs are responsible for between 60% and 70% of all ADRs

If a cytochrome P450 isoform is involved in a drug's metabolism, it is possible to anticipate, from the inhibitor and inducer lists for that enzyme, which drugs might cause significant interactions. Whetehr it will be clinically significant is another matter and depends on the patient.

One out of every 15 white or black persons may have an exaggerated response to standard doses of beta blockers (e.g., metoprolol [Lopressor]), or no response to the analgesic tramadol (Ultram). This is because drug metabolism via CYP450 enzymes exhibits genetic variability (polymorphism) that influences a patient's response to a particular drug.

Because they are known to cause clinically significant CYP450 drug interactions, always use caution when adding the following substances to medications that patients are taking: amiodarone (Cordarone), antiepileptic drugs, antidepressants, antitubercular drugs, grapefruit juice, macrolide and ketolide antibiotics, nondihydropine calcium channel blockers, or protease inhibitors.

Anyone interested can read more here

The Effect of Cytochrome P450 Metabolism on Drug Response, Interactions, and Adverse Effects - August 1, 2007 - American Family Physician

When I worked as an specialist nurse in anticoag we used Stockleys drug interactions as our bible!

Pharmaceutical Press - Stockley's Drug Interactions Ninth edition

Looks like you might be able to download it for free, but I wasn't going to try it in case they weren't genuine sites.

Specializes in ICU,ANTICOAG,ACUTE STROKE,EDU,RESEARCH.
Nitro in any form. Have the IV in place first. Have a bag of NS hanging ready. I have seen it drop systolic BP 40+ points.

DC :-)

I agree. Patients who are underfilled can be hypertensive, and nitroglycerin can drastically drop the systolic. It usually responds to fluids and it's far better to have it ready. I would have thought that anyone requiring nitrates should have IV access anyway.

Specializes in ED.
I have found that unless someone is having a left ventricular infarct, large anterior infarct causing a substantial drop in ejection fraction, or pt took Erectile dysfunction med within last 24 hours, the drop in Bp is very transient. If your Pt's BP is high your usually okay with NTG sublingual due to its fast half life.

Can't deny any of that. But, pts don't always tell you everything, and, until you know those things above are Not happening...

DC :-)

Specializes in ED.
I suppose what I've learned is almost all IV push meds can be given slowly. And if possible diluted. I once pushed Dilaudid a little faster than I should have, and the patient felt funny.[/quote']

I have often been tempted to give Dilaudid quickly, and hold the anti-nausea medicine until they complain about nausea. Nothing like aversion therapy to make potential seekers think twice about demanding narcotics. However, I am too nice for my own good and give the nausea med first. /sigh lol

DC :-)

Specializes in Emergency.

I have read "give slow"

What does that mean?

Over 30 secs, 2 minutes?

Specializes in ER trauma, ICU - trauma, neuro surgical.

Be weary of giving clonidine to lethargic pts. It will causes sleepiness. Clonidine is sometimes used as a sleeping pill for sleep disorder, ADHD, or insomnia. Had a pt that was prescribed catapress TID and no one could figre out why he was basically obtunded. A CAT scan, MRI, and Neuro consult later, the clonidine was stopped and he became awake enough for neuro to sign off.

Specializes in Emergency.

If a pt has a G6PD deficiency, make sure the doc is fully aware before prescribing any meds as that pt cannot metabolize therefore receive many common meds such as sulfa drugs, quinolones, NSAIDS. There are several others as well.

I've learnt that Dilaudid is an insidious drug. Dilaudid can accumulate in the system and the effects can linger on, well after the pain has gone away. I had a little old lady who got Dilaudid and afterwards could no longer maintain her O2 sats on room air. Granted she had a very high fever, possible pneumonia as well, but I think the Dilaudid made her hypoxic. She remained hypoxic for 3 hours after the Dilaudid.

I also know of a case of a patient who was admitted for pancreatitis. He was getting Dilaudid at a regular interval and was tolerating it well. Until all of a sudden, he went into respiratory, and later cardiac arrest. The Dilaudid accumulated in the system and then it caught up with the patient.

If IV Rocepine is pushed too fast (should be super slow ,10 minutes) the patient WILL vomit! Thankfully I learned this after another nurse gave it too fast !

Michele RN

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
If IV Rocepine is pushed too fast (should be super slow ,10 minutes) the patient WILL vomit! Thankfully I learned this after another nurse gave it too fast !

Michele RN

The spelling of meds corrrectly is a pet peeve......I'm sorry :shy:Rocepherine/Ceftriaxone.

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