IV push medications - nursing students

1. Are there any states that do not allow RN students to give IV push medications? I know that many states do not allow LPNs to give IV push meds. Many schools do not allow students to give IV push meds and some only allow it in the last semester in the presense of an RN. Are students not allowed to give IV push meds because of liability issues or because it is state law?

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2. 

   About Lev <3, BSN, RN

   Joined: Jun '11; Posts: 2,900; Likes: 5,362

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3. 
   Dec 23, '12

   I gave IV push medications as a student and supervised students in doing so as a preceptor/staff nurse. Nursing students do not have a license and have to be supervised by a licensed nurse (clinical instructor or preceptor). I would gather it comes down to facility policy more than anything else. When I worked in the hospital, there were certain things students were not allowed to do- chemotherapy, blood transfusions, PCAs- but other facilities may have allowed this.
4. 
   Dec 23, '12

   I'm in NC. I graduate from nursing school in May! We've been doing iv pushes since the end of our 1st semester, but we only pushed stiff like protonix and flushes etc!!! In my 2nd (of 5) semester we started pushing Lasix, and Zofran. This past 4th semester we pushed cardiac drugs, with an instructor and staff and monitor in the room. We've not really pushed any emergency drugs that I know of, like atropine, epi, etc. I sm not sure if we could do that as students, but I did see a paramedic student push some epi while in clinical in the ER.
5. 
   Dec 23, '12

   We were allowed to do iv pushes in 2nd and 3rd semester. In fourth we were not allowed to push narcotics, but ok for everything else. It depends on the facility and instructor/nurse preference from what I saw.
6. 
   Dec 23, '12

   We were allowed to push whatever the pt needed from the beginning as long as we could say what it was, it's use, side effects and adverse effects to watch for. The instructor and the RN would be there. During preceptorship I pushed it all.
7. 
   Dec 24, '12

   See, students are there to learn. They do not "practice under the RN's license," as is commonly thought, but as part of their education they are supervised in doing RN skills and learning RN assessment that they, as students, are not yet licensed to do independently. I know of no state that says that a student cannot perform an RN-level task as part of his or her supervised education.
8. 
   Dec 24, '12

   Cardizem, Dig, morphine, dilaudid....no. Protonix, Lasix, Zofran yes.
9. 
   Dec 25, '12

   My school only allows us to administer ANY medication in the presence of our clinical instructor. Not the hospital's rule, not the state's law, but the rule of the nursing school.
10. 
    Dec 25, '12

    As a student I started doing IVPs in 3rd semester. Everything from Lasix, Labetelol, Digoxin, Dilaudid. We were always directly supervised until the last semester and then not so much. I found a lot of it depends on your relationship with your instructor.
11. 
    Dec 29, '12

    I'm in Ontario, Canada. As students we were not allowed to do any IVP meds. We had to minibag everything or have the RN do it.
12. 
    Dec 30, '12

    I am in Australia. Students are allowed to give it once they have passed IV exams at university, which is usually in our last year (of 3 years). As with ALL MEDICATIONS (I mean ALL), students have to be supervised by an RN during administration and preparation.
13. 
    Dec 30, '12

    We were allowed to do IV push during third thru fifth semesters only with an instructor, Not with an RN. I imagine we will be allowed to do them with our preceptor... But will not find out til semster starts in january.
14. 
    Dec 31, '12

    When I was a student nurse I was able to push IV meds..it just depends

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