Hey guys I have a scenario I want to run by. So I work on a cardiovascular surgical floor. One of the things we do is heart valves. Every so often we get the endocarditis from drug use. Sometimes we get repeat offenders which is sad.
So anyways, thats the background. So I get my patient, 20 something year old female drug addict who had recent heart surgery. I got report in the morning and of course pain was a major issue. The night nurse was like I gave her vicodin and that seemed to help. So I come on and shes crying and visibly in pain. The vicodin is due, so I give that. Hour later she is still crying so I look on the mar and she has a small dose of morphine. So I give that. '
Next day nurse confronts me and says why would you give an IV drug user morphine? She goes on to say she was only giving the patient Tylenol. I tell her that the night shift nurse told me she was taking vicodin. She says he should not have even given her that.
Did I do wrong? The patient was clearly in pain and the medication was ordered by the surgeon. If the patient is in pain shouldn't we treat it?
