brandik

Congratulations on your first nursing job. My first bit of advice is don't panic. It can be overwhelming all that comes with being a charge nurse. Remember to breathe and take your time. Then I agree with BigRed, always thank your aides and nurses you are overseeing. When you try to make the team run as smooth as possible, and give the respect deserved, you get the respect deserved and all is well. Respond to your aides and other nurses requests in a timely manner, not only will it develop trust, it keeps you in the knowing of what is going on with your patients. Always document no matter what. Carry a notepad or something of the sort so you can make notes at any given moment, never leave it to memory. Hope you have a great first day!

The beads are coated, and as much as you would think the Dr. and pharmacist (who warned it may clog the tube) would know the difficulty of giving this drug via g tube, he still ordered it this way. Thanks for the suggestion on suppository though. I will run it by Mom and see what she thinks. Retention enema will not work as child is developmentally delayed and would not understand that. Thank you.

Hey Jerzeytech, Yes I tried using more water. They still floated to the top of the water letting just the water exit and the beads remained. Thanks for the tip though. It's very frustrating. If we could use warm water the beads may flow better but the problem with that is they will dissolve and we want it to dissolve in the intestines not stomach.

I work as a Pediatric Home Care nurse and my client has just received a new medication, Pentasa. The order is to empty capsule into water and give via g tube. The problem is that the inside of the capsule is loaded with little beads, and when added to water, they are lighter than the water and either don't go through the syringe to the tube, only the water goes through, or it clogs the tube for what few of the beads escape with the water, and the rest of the beads are left in the syringe. (The beads float). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to administer this medication through a g tube? It cannot be dissolved as it is a sustained release medication, and I toyed with it for over an hour trying to figure out how to get the beads to flow with the water. If we cannot figure out how to get this medication to work, my client will have to travel an hour away to have it administered IV. For an 8 year old, this can be pretty traumatic and we are trying to avoid this option. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much, Brandi