Help, I have clinical tomorrow

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I am a first semester nursing student and we start clinical tomorrow. We will be giving meds for the first time and I was wondering what is the best way to learn them? I have 20 meds to learn by 7 am, there action, class, side effects, and nsg implications. I'm freaking out because our instructor will send us home if we mess up the least little bit. UGH! Also, in my patient assignment..my pt's dx is failure to thrive, afib c rvr, and dehydration. Why would he get whiskey in the evening with his meal?

I am a nurse on an Ortho Trauma unit and a few months ago I had a patient that had an order for whiskey PRN. He was an alcoholic and this was given to him to prevent withdrawal during his hospitalization. While some may find it irresponsible to contribute to this mans addiction, I think it was in the best interest of the patient to prevent him from withdrawal during an already difficult situation. Before he the whiskey was ordered, he was having a lot of pain and anxiety issues. After, he requested hardly any oral narcs and used his PCA less and less! On an acute care unit, we are not there to solve the worlds problems in less than a week.

I agree.

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

I just saw this thread (I was out of town for 2 days). We occassionally saw orders for a shot of whiskey for elderly patients if they had a long time addiction to alcohol. It was far easier than forcing them to go through withdrawal. The older docs would write "one ounce spiritus fermenti PO q evening". The patient or their family, however, had to supply the liquor because the pharmacy did not.

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