Reasonable time frame for prn medication to be given?

Nurses General Nursing

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When a patient asks for a prn medication lomotil how long is reasonable time to wait for the med to be given, the nurse stated she would be there shortly, then stated she will get to her when she gets to her No emegencies going on.... Also said when she finishes her med passing.... 2 part question time frame and how she spoke to the family handling the situation. Ty. It was given an hour and half later pt. had abd pain and loose stools that entire time.

Sounds like you are too much of a nice girl. The nurse should have prioritized and treated the abdominal pain and diarrhea. If you are ever in a similar situation, don't wait... ask for the charge nurse or the patient advocate if the RX is not given in 15 minutes.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Immodium and lomotil are not the same thing. I believe that lomotil is a control.

Yes, it has to be counted in the Pyxis. If it is not in the Pyxis, it needs to be brought up by a pharmacy tech (not tubed up) and signed for by an RN--at least this is the case everywhere I have worked.

And it should not be given for diarrhea 2/2 C diff.

I think the poster was just making the point that urgent/life threatening issues will ALWAYS come first and should.

perhaps

Interesting take on that post. Nothing in it indicated that the poster does not care.

What field of nursing are you in?

Maybe it gives you a different perspective,

mostly retired, have worked numerous areas

Specializes in Med-Surg., LTC,, OB/GYN, L& D,, Office.

mistake

Specializes in Care Coordination, Care Management.

I do not think non-nursing folks should be allowed on these boards.

Sounds like you are too much of a nice girl. The nurse should have prioritized and treated the abdominal pain and diarrhea. If you are ever in a similar situation, don't wait... ask for the charge nurse or the patient advocate if the RX is not given in 15 minutes.

Seriously, you'd kick it up the ladder after 15 minutes? I think it's harmful to set up these kind of expectations of immediate customer service. Nursing is about juggling the various needs of ALL the patients. Does the patient in the OP deserve to get his/her med for diarrhea? Of course. But the nurse's other patients deserve to have their various needs met, too, and some of them may be more pressing than diarrhea. Complaining to the charge nurse after 15 minutes does nothing but take her away from her own patients, who also need care.

How can you make a judgment about what the nurse "should have prioritized" when this post tells us nothing about what her other patients need?

Are you saying that getting a PRN for diarrhea is more important than attending the patient whose O2 sat is now 83%? More important than giving a cardiac med for someone whose systolic BP is in the 190s? More important than attending to the patient who ripped out her IV and has blood and dripping vancomycin everywhere? More important than timely morphine for a cancer patient on end of life care? More important than hanging blood for a patient with a critical H&H?

Until we have some idea of what else the nurse had to do, I don't know how you can determine that administering this PRN medication was the nurse's most important task.

From the bare bones of this post, we don't even know if the medication was ordered or available in the med room at the time it was requested.

If I have to page an intern, wait for a return phone call, wait for the order to be put in, wait for pharmacy to verify it, and wait for it to come up on the next rounds, that's well over an hour, even if I make it my top priority and set the process in motion the minute I leave the room.

mostly retired, have worked numerous areas

Interesting.

Your perspective seems to be different from any of the nurses I know, and I thought that maybe you weren't a nurse.

I love how defensive nurses get when someone makes a comment about time management lol. Nurses work hard...harder than most people will ever understand but be honest....there are bad nurses out there who make people wait for no greater reason than they annoyed them. And if u really get honest...EVERY nurse has done this...made an annoying patient or family member wait just because you can. I've worked in the healthcare field my whole life...in different capacities along the way and I've been a patient and I've had my share of amazing dedicated hard working nurses but I've also had and seen my fair share of horrible nurses that don't belong working in a vet clinic let alone a hospital. Those of you making comments about how "loose stool" is not an emergency should actually be ashamed of yourself because 1 u don't know what's causing it and 2 to a patient experiencing it or a family member watching someone they love suffer IT IS an emergency to them. Its the world to them and guess what? ITS YOUR JOB to take care of any and all patients no matter how silly or insignificant their symptoms are to you. That patient may have had loose stool for days....weeks....do you know how that feels? The cramping? The fatigue? The being frightened that something bad is wrong with them? A patients fears and concerns and needs as well as their families should never be dismissed because they aren't an emergency in your eyes and if a patient or their family asking 3 times in an hour bugs or annoys you then maybe YOU shouldn't be a nurse!!

I love how defensive nurses get when someone makes a comment about time management lol. Nurses work hard...harder than most people will ever understand but be honest....there are bad nurses out there who make people wait for no greater reason than they annoyed them. And if u really get honest...EVERY nurse has done this...made an annoying patient or family member wait just because you can. I've worked in the healthcare field my whole life...in different capacities along the way and I've been a patient and I've had my share of amazing dedicated hard working nurses but I've also had and seen my fair share of horrible nurses that don't belong working in a vet clinic let alone a hospital. Those of you making comments about how "loose stool" is not an emergency should actually be ashamed of yourself because 1 u don't know what's causing it and 2 to a patient experiencing it or a family member watching someone they love suffer IT IS an emergency to them. Its the world to them and guess what? ITS YOUR JOB to take care of any and all patients no matter how silly or insignificant their symptoms are to you. That patient may have had loose stool for days....weeks....do you know how that feels? The cramping? The fatigue? The being frightened that something bad is wrong with them? A patients fears and concerns and needs as well as their families should never be dismissed because they aren't an emergency in your eyes and if a patient or their family asking 3 times in an hour bugs or annoys you then maybe YOU shouldn't be a nurse!!

Why the new account? Just reply as yourself, OP.

Specializes in NICU/Mother-Baby/Peds/Mgmt.
Sounds like you are too much of a nice girl. The nurse should have prioritized and treated the abdominal pain and diarrhea. If you are ever in a similar situation, don't wait... ask for the charge nurse or the patient advocate if the RX is not given in 15 minutes.

I hope never to be your nurse.

I love how defensive nurses get when someone makes a comment about time management lol. Nurses work hard...harder than most people will ever understand but be honest....there are bad nurses out there who make people wait for no greater reason than they annoyed them. And if u really get honest...EVERY nurse has done this...made an annoying patient or family member wait just because you can. I've worked in the healthcare field my whole life...in different capacities along the way and I've been a patient and I've had my share of amazing dedicated hard working nurses but I've also had and seen my fair share of horrible nurses that don't belong working in a vet clinic let alone a hospital. Those of you making comments about how "loose stool" is not an emergency should actually be ashamed of yourself because 1 u don't know what's causing it and 2 to a patient experiencing it or a family member watching someone they love suffer IT IS an emergency to them. Its the world to them and guess what? ITS YOUR JOB to take care of any and all patients no matter how silly or insignificant their symptoms are to you. That patient may have had loose stool for days....weeks....do you know how that feels? The cramping? The fatigue? The being frightened that something bad is wrong with them? A patients fears and concerns and needs as well as their families should never be dismissed because they aren't an emergency in your eyes and if a patient or their family asking 3 times in an hour bugs or annoys you then maybe YOU shouldn't be a nurse!!

OK, so what are we to tell the other patient who is actually experiencing an emergency..."Sorry, guy down the hall has diarrhea and his family thinks it's an emergency?"

While you may believe your family member needs urgent attention for diarrhea, only your nurse can appropriately prioritize in what order patient needs are addressed. A true emergency would delay treatment of a patient's diarrhea.

Spitefully delaying a patient's need for a PRN because the family is annoying is obviously wrong. While you seem to think EVERY nurse has done that, I have not and I don't work with any who do either.

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