OBOY!....did I date myself today!!!!!

[TazziRN]

I have been in emergency nursing for many years. I cannot remember the last time I had to crush a pill for a patient; if the pt couldn't swallow pills I've always been able to find the liquid form or injectable. I had a kid who needed a Pyridium and can't swallow pills, so I went to medsurg looking for a mortar and pestle. Couldn't find one in the med room, so I went to the desk. A new grad who's been out for less than a year told me there was one in the med room, and I told her I couldn't find it. She led me back there and pulled out this heavy metal silver contraption that I had seen and didn't recognize.....a pill crusher! When I was in school we didn't have a pill crusher, had to use a mortar and pestle!

I wish I'd had a camera for the look on her face........:roll

[NJLPN]

YES! They call them the Silent Knight! lol

We use the silent knight. I really don't like it because I think a big portion of the pill gets stuck on the little plastic bags.

[rpv_rn]

We have these great new pill crushers.....I love them. They are so much better than the heavy metal silver thing.

These use heavy plastic crusher envelopes....put the pills in the envelope, and place it between two surfaces and bring the handle down, and it crushes the pills.

This sounds like the old washing machine that my grandmother had. The clothes are washed, then she put them thru the ringer to squeeze out the water. Clothes were squeezed between two surfaces that were hand turned. The next cycle was the rinse cycle, and again, the clothes had to be squeezed thru the ringer.

Makes me wonder if a nurse invented the above pill crusher. It's a great idea. Why didn't i think of that?

[paranoidnurse]

I use the small plastic pill bags or paper med cup, whichever is handiest and whack it with a can of Ensure. we also have a small hammer we hide in the med room drawer for tough pills.

[DDRN4me]

I have the small plastic twist togehter kind...but like the mortar and pestle best! ..although i have resorted to the ziploock and hammer method !:roll

[NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN]

I either crush them in paper medicine cups with hemoststs or put them in a cup of near boiling water and just let them dissolve. This works great for feeding tubes. By the time I check placement and residuals, it's usually cooled enough to give to the pt.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

In my first semester of nursing school I asked an RN where I could find a pill crusher. She told me to put the pills in 2 plastic baggies & to follow her. We went to an empty patient room. She went behind the room door, instructed me to put the bag "right there" pointing to the door jamb, and shut the heavy door. Voila! :chuckle

[LPN1974, LPN]

In my first semester of nursing school I asked an RN where I could find a pill crusher. She told me to put the pills in 2 plastic baggies & to follow her. We went to an empty patient room. She went behind the room door, instructed me to put the bag "right there" pointing to the door jamb, and shut the heavy door. Voila! :chuckle

That sounds like an awful lot of trouble every time you need pills crushed.

[jillyk*rn]

ok tazzi...but do you "glass syringes":eek: ???

** just for the record...15 years of nursing for me:bugeyes: !

[JustMe]

I've enjoyed everyone's replies! I place the pills in two paper med cups, place two more med cups over the top and use the pestle to crush the pills through the top two cups. No muss, no fuss. The screw top pill crushers work well most of the time but they disappear. I've seen the Silent Knights used in places that crush tons of meds--it's fast!

[jimthorp]

Nameless coworkers would take the pill, put it in a ziplok bag and beat it with the telephone receiver. Worked. Not endorsig mind you.

:roll

[pugmum]

Nameless coworkers would take the pill, put it in a ziplok bag and beat it with the telephone receiver. Worked. Not endorsig mind you.

Love that idea....the most exotic I ever got was in ER when we couldn't find the hammer...smashed then with the cast cutter!

[TazziRN, RN]

Nope, no glass syringes, but I remember having to calculate drip rates by eye and using special tubing for pumps, Crutchfield tongs, having to TPA MI pts and hope for the best.....