Narcotic Administration in PACU

[SaraDavisEdick]

Hi All,

I work in a PACU where another nurse can get you a narcotic medication for you if your busy ie: medicating another pt, just getting report on pt, etc. that nurse will either give a dose of that medication themselves or hand it to the nurse taking care of that specific pt. We also will document electronically that we either gave the med or if the other nurse gave the med. Sometimes we waste with a whole different nurse after the patient has reached their comfort level. When it comes to breaks/lunch relief and we have a patient still reguiring medications we leave the rest of the med for the relief nurse to continue providing. I am curious what other PACU'S do and if any have any policies regarding this issue.

[nursebubby]

Hi Sara,

Where I am it is exactly as you describe minus the electronic documentation. Good old pen paper here in my part of the UK: Controlled drug book for checking out meds and documenting wastage and patient notes for administration. We also have a patient register where a note is made of meds given.

I can't imagine how we would manage patient flow, breaks and shift changes without teamwork as you've described. I'm not aware of any specific policies other than those relating to ward settings. Theatre/recovery (PACU) tend to be seen as exceptions to the rule.

I'd be interested to see how others work.

[Txg159]

It is exactly the same where I work. Thankfully, I work with a great team of nurses all of whom I have the utmost confidence in. It is the teamwork that allows us to provided such great patient care.