Is this normal?

[CrazziiRN913]

So earlier I had a random memory pop in my head from about 5 or 6 years ago when my Aunt had her second to last child. She had an uneventful delivery, no complications or anything. The baby was fine when he came out and she was fine after just tired. I remembered when my mother and I went to go see my aunt in the hospital she was telling us about having the epidural and how it was the best thing in the world, then she mentioned. that the nurse left her a bottle of pills (tylenol or advil can't remember which one) and a piece of paper with a chart on it to write down every time she took some and how much! Now my aunt is a nurse and was at the time when she had the baby, but I just thought it was weird that they would just giver a bottle of pills and tell her to chart every time she took one! And I know that those are OTC drugs you can by close to anywhere but they where hospital provided and everything....I just thought it was weird what do you guys think?

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

We used to do it but no longer do, think we did away with it about 5 yrs ago. Problem in addition to liability if someone ODs on it (pt or otherwise) was that pain was not getting effectively assessed. People assumed that because the pt had self-med pack that she would take them as needed. It wasn't always happening and pts were hurting unnecessarily. One of the few times I think JCAHO might have a point.