Help! Common meds given in the hospital

Nurses General Nursing

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I know there was a thread about this before but its several years old. Would anyone be able to put together a current list? Thanks in advance for anyone who actually takes the time...believe me it will be much appreciated. I started my first nursing job after having graduated 18 months ago!!!! Finally! All you new grads still actively on the job hunt...trust me if you keep at it there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope after all =). The trouble is, I've been out of school for quite some time and I am in desperate need for a review. Would anyone be able to help?

Thank you so much!:nurse: :redbeathe

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

How many pages of meds are you asking for?!

"In the hospital" covers a very large number of meds.

Seriously, if you could narrow down your request to specific diagnoses or patient groupings? Better yet, the review that you're requesting could very well be found in your nursing pharm textbooks.

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Do you now what ward/department you'll be in? then we can give you 3 or 4 pages of meds instead of 200 :p

Generally things like: morphine, lipitor, aspirin, atenolol, B-blockers, warfarin, heparin, coloxyl, nexium etc etc

You should review the emergency medicine protocols/drugs as well...

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

It also varies per unit. I work primarily in progressive care, and the meds I see A LOT include:

* metoprolol (Lopressor)

* amlodipine (Norvasc)

* Lovenox

* insulins...99% of the time it's NovoLOG and/or Levemir

* Protonix

* Zocor

* NTG paste, NTG gtts (we are only allowed to titrate to chest pain, not to BP...in that case, the patient needs to go to ICU)

* Rocephin

* Zosyn

* vanc

* Heparin...this includes SQ and gtts.

* Plavix

* morphine

* Demerol (we only have *1* doctor who still prescribes this, unless there is an allergy...)

* Dilaudid

* Norco (usually 5/325, sometimes 7.5/325)

* Ativan

* Hydralazine

* IVP labetolol

* Cardizem gtts

* Amiodorone (not seen often, though)

* sotalol (Betapace)

* Ambien

* Tylenol

* clonidine

* Narcan

* Lasix

* losartan

* lisinopril

* solumedrol

* guaifenesin

* Lipitor

* ASA

* Reglan

* beta agonists, like Albuterol, etc...but those meds are always administered by respiratory via nebulizer.

Everything else is based on the patient's comorbidities.

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Hi busttamuv3,

Congratulations on landing the job!

I highly suggest you review your textbooks on the conditions and populations you will be encountering in your workplace. We don't know if you will be working with babies, kids, adults or the elderly and what your floor's focus will be.

Always carry a drug book with you at work and do not give any medications you have not checked for yourself.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

'Common meds' depends on where u work. Most elderly people will be on heart meds, anti-hypertensives, anti-cholesterol meds. Psych patients may be on meds for the elderly and psych meds. Med/surg patients may be on all the previously mentioned meds plus IV antibiotics, anti-coagulants - either prophylatically or after surgery - and children/babies will be on completely different meds altogether. You need to narrow it down to where u will be working.

You pharmacy book will have common meds in there - I suggest u start with that. In Oz, we need to do a refresher course if we've been out of nursing for approx 3-6 months continuously. Don't u have to do a refresher course, otherwise you could possibly put patients, & your license, at risk.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I would say common meds

PPIs: protonix, pepcid

Bowel care: ducolax, colace, mom, senokot

Antibiotics: zosyn, unasyn, vanco, zyvox, rocephin, ancef, mefoxin

Pain meds: dilaudid, morphine, demerol, fentanyl, oxy ir, oxycontin, oxycodone/acetaminophin, hydrocodone/acetaminophen

Tylenol, motrin, toradol, fioricet

Nausea meds: compazine, zofran, phenergan

Antianxiolytics: ativan, xanax

Sleeping meds: ambien, restoril

Dvt prophylaxis: lovenox, heparin, warfarin

Blood pressure meds prn: hydralazine, vasotec, clonidine

Home blood pressure meds: beta blockers, ace inhibitors

Diuretics: lasix, hctz, bumex

Those I think would cover the majority of the meds we give on a regular basis. I would suggest in addition to a drug book ensure you consult your hospitals policies regarding medication as depending on your floor there may be limitations. For example on our med surg unit we can give a max dose of hydralazine 10mg q4 hours prn which a lot of people will get in trouble with as the docs will write for 20mg q4 hours.

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Could you call a local hospital and ask the pharmacy for a copy of their formulary, so you can study up ? :)

It would be more tailored to your area and what the hospital uses. Not all have a full list of each category of med.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The types of medications given in the hospital are very unit-specific. For instance, the L&D unit will use plenty of Pitocin and magnesium sulfate, whereas the ortho floor will deal with plenty of Lovenox, Hydrocodone, and so forth.

Therefore, it would be immensely helpful if you could narrow it down to the unit where you expect to be working. :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Neuro/Oncology floor nursing..

The meds most commonly used(some posters have already named them and they are in no specific order/category):

tylenol

motrin

flexeril

lasix

cipro

flagyl

tramadol

dilaudid

zanaflex

zofran

morphine

fentanyl

oxycontin

ambien

celebrex

ativan

valium

oxycodone

pitocin

vicodin

tylenol3

naprosyn

demerol(rarely if other narcotics fail to relieve pain).

cymbalta

benadryl

lyrica

lipitor

lopressor

zanax

tramadol

ativan

prozac

Amoxicillin

colace

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