Nursing Students Student Assist
Published Nov 15, 2014
Hailbop16
138 Posts
I can't figure this one out! On my patient's chart for Albuterol nebulizer it said "RTQ4WA". What the heck does that mean?
Karou
700 Posts
RT is for respiratory therapy.
Q4 means even four hours.
WA means while awake.
So I would translate it to mean that respiratory therapy administration the treatment to the patient every four hours when the patient is awake.
Wow- you rock! Thank you so very much. Makes sense when you break it down!
elkpark
14,633 Posts
RT is for respiratory therapy.Q4 means even four hours.WA means while awake.So I would translate it to mean that respiratory therapy administration the treatment to the patient every four hours when the patient is awake.
Yup, that.
Christy1019, ASN, RN
879 Posts
I can't imagine that is an accepted abbreviation, ew I don't like it!
Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN
5,047 Posts
I don't think that's an approved abbreviation... I figured it out when I opened this and saw it was albuterol, but I can see how that would be confusing. Which is exactly why we have approved abbreviations
BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN
3,520 Posts
There's a med error waiting to happen! What a poorly written order =(
QuietRiot83, BSN, RN
16 Posts
Agreed. What a mess! Seems like someone made that up to save time for them and ended up wasting the time of others who had to figure it out lol
Orders like that used to be quite common, and no one had significant trouble understanding them.
Lev, MSN, RN, NP
4 Articles; 2,805 Posts
Routine every 4 hours while awake :)
RT could mean routine...
It could mean radiology tech also, lol. But that would raise some eyebrows lol