How about this for an order?

ativan???? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This may just be my naivete or age showing but I saw a prn order from an old "breast man" that read verbatim "Ativan 1 mg p.o q 4-6hrs prn pain".

Yuck :angryfire

Best to leave a note on the front of the chart for clarification, or call him. What is an old 'breast man' btw?

MD's aren't allowed to write "q4-6 hrs" they had to SPECIFY like "q4 hrs" or "q6 hrs"......at least thats the new policy @ my hospital

MD's aren't allowed to write "q4-6 hrs" they had to SPECIFY like "q4 hrs" or "q6 hrs"......at least thats the new policy @ my hospital

They do that all the time where I work. It's just so silly. I mean, why not make it every 4 hours, since that is the minimum time you can have bettween doses. I always thought that was nonsensical.

Ativan is used for pain at times because of the calming effect which allows the client to relax enough so that the pain eases. I have seen this done in the past several years; mostly with cancer and abdominal diseases.

I've seen ativan ordered for agitation, anxiety, restlessness, but I've never seen ativan ordered for pain.

I can see it being an adjuvant to a pain med, but on it's own does it really work? Are they really relaxed and do patients experience less pain or are they just sedated?

Breast Men

They do that all the time where I work. It's just so silly. I mean, why not make it every 4 hours, since that is the minimum time you can have bettween doses. I always thought that was nonsensical.

I agree the order doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I see it all the time as well. One possibility is that if you haven't given the med in 6 hours, you may want to check on the patient (check VS, pain scale if applicable, etc) so that the drug does not get all the way out of the system, which makes it harder to get a handle on the pain again when it jumps up to being a 9/10 with nothing on board.

They do that all the time where I work. It's just so silly. I mean, why not make it every 4 hours, since that is the minimum time you can have bettween doses. I always thought that was nonsensical.

I believe it's used as an adjuvant, as previously stated by others.

I guess I don't understand what the big deal is. It could be as simple as he had a brain fart and meant to write for agitation, sleep or whatever. One of our ER docs recently wrote an order that read, Lortab 1 Gm. IV. I don't know where his head was, but when I pointed it out to him, he shook his head and laughed. We all make mistakes, and sometimes it comes out in our charting. Back before e mail, I worked with a male RN who had a girlfriend in another state and they wrote a lot of letters, many of them written on progress notes when he was not busy at work. On one of his charts on night, he signed off his notes with...Love, John. Only the next day, did someone point it out to him, and he nearly died of embarassment. We see wierd stuff written on charts all the time, and sometimes it is mine!

BTW, my hubby is an old breast man and I wouldn't have it any other way!