Mborn2185

Needs to be swallowed

Would you give your patient oral Ativan even though they have the death rattle when secretions aren't moving?

How much Ativan are you giving?

Are you looking for suggestions?

Thank you for the clarification, all of you. Thank you for the quick response. This is a great link. I am going to love being here and it's a comfort to know that this is available for my questions

I am sure it was Ativan. I was standing beside her when she drew it up. A PRN scopolamine patch was available. Atropine was not available.

There was a scopolamine patch PRN. I really needed clarification

I am a new RN. I was being oriented by a nurse who had a patient that that was dying. The 79 year old patients HR was 130 and BP 160/90 SaO2 54 . She had entered the phase where secretions weren't moving and was making that death rattle. My preceptor gave her 1ml of Ativan. It appeared to me that she was choking after administrating the Ativan. She told me that because her O2 levels were down she was gasping for air. I have seen many patients die while I was a personal care tech. And personally, I have never seen this before. I've looked on line and books and seriously can't find where giving a liquid med is ok when secretions aren't moving. Is it the norm to give Ativan or any oral meds at that time, outside of roxanol that dissolves in the month.