Pushing drugs for the Man bother anyone?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello All.

I'm a newbie taking prereqs for a BSN.

I just have one big nagging concern :uhoh3: keeping me from fully committing to the program. I want to help people, but I feel that the western allopathic way of surgery/drugs is often very harmful (although sometimes needed in cases of trauma etc).

Does pushing drugs for the giant pharmaceuticals bother anyone out there in the nurse world? I just don't know if I could live with myself doing it all day when I know that many problems could be solved simply by diet change etc.

Please enlighten me!

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
Well, one's choice of words does form the frame of reference and one's reaction.

BTW, I was taught that it is rude to call others rude, or comment on their behavior.

Kettle/pot.

Is it rude to comment on the comments that others make regarding comments made on the behavior of others???:lol2:

:trout:

Specializes in Cardiac/Telemetry, Hospice, Home Health.

This is getting downright hilarious!

Specializes in Cardiac/Telemetry, Hospice, Home Health.
Well, one's choice of words does form the frame of reference and one's reaction.

BTW, I was taught that it is rude to call others rude, or comment on their behavior.

Kettle/pot.

Yes, I am not above being rude at times. I am more apt to point it out when I see bullying and someone possibly being outcast or hurt by it. If it is kettle/pot so be it.

Peace

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

I spent my formative years in the 60's, so I'm a true believer in better living through pharmacology.

JK, of course.

I did have a pt last weekend, 70 yo crani, who went into uncontrolled A-fib 150-170 just as I was peeking in to check on her before lunch.

Got an order to push 5mg metoprolol, then another 5, then another 5. Neurosurgeon calls in medicine, orders another 25 po. Hour later, the pt cardioverts, SR 90s, just as the aides were bathing her.

I joked--sort of--to my fellow nurses that it was probably the bath that did the trick. I think it's more likely the po metoprolol got into her system. She's on 50 po bid, now, and I think it's very appropriate. Haven't seen anymore A-fib. She's probably home, by now, and I'll bet on metoprolol for life (has some HTN). Still...I'm open enough to thinking that the bath really did help that we got her bathed before lunch, the following night. Regardless of HR, I know she felt better after getting cleaned up, and it seems possible the turning and touching could have stimulated her in a similar, but gentler, manner to electro-conversion.

I've given 2200 coreg at 2130 because a pt was starting to show some irregularities, and by 2200 the looked like they were on a pacer.

Drugs save lives, and can improve quality of life. They can be misused/abused, but can also do just what they're meant to do.

I'm not a huge fan of the pens--they're ok, especially when a pts family wants to "borrow" your pen. Awhile back, though, a Plavix rep inserviced us at a local country club with dinner and drinks--free beer!

I was so impressed I told her I was going to start giving all my pts extra plavix to show my appreciation.

I don't think a bath will be my first intervention, next time I see a new onset of A-fib. But it may figure in, as soon as the meds are given.

Everyone seems to be jumping down her throat for feeling that way about the use (or overuse) of drugs. And let me back up here, I'm someone who would not be alive today if it weren't for drugs, so I'm not antidrug. I take meds everyday, but I don't take the slew of drugs my doctor wants to push on me (in fact she told me I was a bad consumer of the pharmaceutical industry).

I do believe today's society reaches for drugs first without any concept of basic self care. I'm a massage therapist attending nursing school. Yes, I'm a little bit holistic, but not out in space. I was working a health fair at a local hospital where a woman sat on my chair and told me to be careful with her left shoulder blade because she just had a cortisone shot in it the day before. I asked what happened, she had just pulled a muscle the morning before!!! I question a doctor who wouldn't have recommended a cold pack and ibuprofen (assuming no contraindications), a little stretching and possibly a massage to help move inflammation out (not before 2 days after the injury). But the first choice is steroids?? We had an outbreak of something called an itch mite over labor day weekend here. You'd get bit, break out with redness (just like a mosquito bite), no inflammation, no fever, no systemic effects at all, just intense itching. 100's of people showed up in emergency rooms. Are you telling people don't know how to take care of a little bug bite, cool pack, calamine lotion. They'd spend a $1000.00 to have a medical person tell them nothing we can do for that, treat it like a mosquito bite. People's overreliance on medication and lack of understanding of how to take care of ourselves in incredible. And no, I don't need any of you to tell me maybe I'm making a bad career choice. I believe if you just ignore a problem, it won't go away. I believe you can make a difference person by person. There are plenty of people who want the easy way out, ignoring what the bodies really needs, and take drugs first. I also know there's a growing population who is becoming more disillusioned with our healthcare system and more willing to make the efforts to care of themselves, and it is HARD work to take care of ourselves. But it's that population I'm hoping to work with and hoping to inform. I hope to find a nice balance between necessary drugs and things individuals can do to help themselves and minimize their need for medications thus reducing the compounded effects of negative side effects.

I know is a hard battle to undertake, but I think it's worth it, call me crazy call me a dreamer!

I know what you mean. I hear docs telling patients with high cholesterol to take this med or that med. Oh and if your calcium is low take another pill. I never hear docs talk to their patients about life style changes such as putting down the donut and picking up an apple. They never talk to them about exercise and healthy living. It makes me furious. Everything is solved with medicine. I even went to the doc for a check up. They tell me at your age you need to start taking a calcium supplement. No one ever asked me about my diet or my intake of calcium. While there are times when you do need medicine, I am not discounting that. If people would live healthier lives they wouldn't end up in the position they are when they come to the hospital and need all those meds! This is a soap box of mine!!

Hello All.

I'm a newbie taking prereqs for a BSN.

I just have one big nagging concern :uhoh3: keeping me from fully committing to the program. I want to help people, but I feel that the western allopathic way of surgery/drugs is often very harmful (although sometimes needed in cases of trauma etc).

Does pushing drugs for the giant pharmaceuticals bother anyone out there in the nurse world? I just don't know if I could live with myself doing it all day when I know that many problems could be solved simply by diet change etc.

Please enlighten me![/quot

Hi sombody,

Oh yes, it's just awful - I love the way Colace (can you spell Hershey Squirts?) is given to every person who checks in. To be sure, it will drive you nuts. Ever notice that when a company comes up with a new psych med, all of a a sudden there's an epidemic of that particular disorder? It's depressing to think that the health of the drug companies is most served in the "health system" - That's a fact! This is well beyond the scope of this forum, but as long as corporations have legal "personhood" they will get away with murder. In some cases, literally.

You could be a holistic nurse practitioner and call your own shots about how you want to help people either stay or get healthy.

Diahni

This world could use more dreamers.

"The man"?

I haven't heard that expression since Woodstock.

Suesquatch: I assure you, "The Man" is alive and well, whether or not you've heard it recently. You'd be hearing more about the aforementioned "Man" if there were a draft, for starters. Maybe the term "military industrial complex" doesn't appear in the news these days, but Haliburton and Blackwater are are making a killing on killing as I write this.

No way! They have the coolest pens!

LOL. Love 'em myself. Nice fat ones that don't give ya writer's cramp.

Specializes in Cardiac.
Suesquatch: I assure you, "The Man" is alive and well, whether or not you've heard it recently. You'd be hearing more about the aforementioned "Man" if there were a draft, for starters. Maybe the term "military industrial complex" doesn't appear in the news these days, but Haliburton and Blackwater are are making a killing on killing as I write this.

:uhoh3: Oh boy...and what does this have to do with the OT???

Specializes in Cardiac.
I never hear docs talk to their patients about life style changes such as putting down the donut and picking up an apple. They never talk to them about exercise and healthy living

Actually, I hear them say that to pts all the time. Problem is-pts don't want to hear that and they get defensive and angry.

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