PRN question... am I the only one??

[Trubie, LPN]

At my facility, we have 2 med techs for our hall- and one of them is shared with another station, so she is frequently off the floor.

When my residents complain of pain (which is ALWAYS 8-10/10!), I go to the med tech, locate the appropriate med in the MAR, have the med pulled and then I sign the MAR/narc count/PRN log and personally administer the med to the patient.

It just drives me batty when I ask the med tech to give a PRN pain pill, and the med doesnt get passed until an hour later (because the med tech was busy with the scheduled meds)... so I do it myself!!

So today I did this again and my med techs kinda laughed at me- and they said I was the only nurse who would self administer a PRN med!!! I couldnt tell if they were offended or thankful? I just explained I wanted it given in a timely manner and I knew they were busy....

Do you think Im intruding on their stomping grounds?? I dont want to offend anybody, but I want my patients to get their pain meds and quit ringing the call bell every 5 minutes until it gets there!

[jerenemarie]

I wouldn't worry about intruding on their stomping grounds, your number 1 priority are the residents & you are doing the right thing when giving them prn pain meds before the pain becomes unmanageable! Not only that but a med tech cannot give any prn meds without consulting with a nurse first as they cannot do assessments that prn meds need before administering...doesn't matter if it is a laxative, pain med, etc!

Thanks,

Jerenemarie

[PAERRN20]

No way. You are the licensed nurse you are in no way intruding on their stomping grounds! I think its great you try to get people in pain their PRN meds promptly.

[CNA2day]

They probably appreciate the fact that you can just go do it insted of follow them around and complain about it!

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

I use to do the same thing. They actually were grateful.

[caliotter3]

They are probably secretly thankful for anything you do that lightens their workload.

[coolpeach]

We do not have med techs, and on patient care techs so I have to give all meds, scheduled and prn. I would love a med tech to give prns.....How awesome would that be.

[indigonurse]

If your med techs are responsible for giving pain meds then as long as you do it for them they will never learn. This sounds like a widespread problem. You can give them all an in service on how quickly they need to give a pain med. have them sign it, then use the disciplinary process if they continue to do this.

[CNA2day]

If you tell me something it might not happen IMMEDIATELY at all times, as no one is likely to be standing around just waiting for you to bark an order.

forgive me if I am wrong!

[cebuana_nurse]

I don't see anything wrong with that. You are licensed as well to pass a pill even if its a PRN med. If you worry about stomping grounds, ask them if its okay with them for you to give the PRN med in that way it eases off their workload a bit. It is stressful to pass meds in an x number of patients so I don't think its gonna be a big deal. You guys are a team and there's never an 'I' in it. Good Luck!