Pushing drugs for the Man bother anyone?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello All.

I'm a newbie taking prereqs for a BSN.

I just have one big nagging concern :uhoh3: keeping me from fully committing to the program. I want to help people, but I feel that the western allopathic way of surgery/drugs is often very harmful (although sometimes needed in cases of trauma etc).

Does pushing drugs for the giant pharmaceuticals bother anyone out there in the nurse world? I just don't know if I could live with myself doing it all day when I know that many problems could be solved simply by diet change etc.

Please enlighten me!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Ok, maybe the title was a little silly, but I didn't find the wording of the original question offensive or condescending...I think it's a valid question and concern coming from a pre nursing student. Plus I don't want to scare a newbie off. JMHO.

I agree. I think we should move past debating the semantics of the title and discuss the content. Sometimes it can't help but "sound" condescending when you're talking about natrual things, or obesity, or even ADN vs. BSN. But if you're giving an honest well-thought out opinion, you need to say it anyway, regardless of how it's perceived.

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A few comments...

If you work in a hospital...you may not be pushing drugs for The Man...but you are definitely passing drugs that are the result of well-orchestrated deals by pharmaceutical companies. I am talking about pharmaceutical substitution lists. For example...in my hospital, almost every patient who is on any kind of drug that has the slightest possiblility of a s/e of "upset stomach" is put on a PPI. And every patient that is put on a PPI is put on Protonix. Not the cheaper Prilosec, or the cheaper yet generic omeprazole. Only Protonix, no matter what the MD writes. This is because the maker of Protonix (wyeth?) has made a deal with my health system. But the small savings that my company retains are not passed on to the patient. They are charged the same price as any Walgreens or CVS would charge.

Secondly.. I just wanted to share some quotes from an essay I just read called Facing Reality by Marilynne Robinson, PhD.

"As a culture we are terrified of illness, though as people go we are rather safe from it. Perhaps to feed our anxiety, illness for us has overspilled definition and is now to be discovered everywhere, in everyone. Emotions are regarded as symptoms and treated medically, including, of course, anxiety. This is true even while the boundless rescources of the society seem largely bent to the work of stimulating fear, disgust, resentment -emotions tht in fact are pathological and also pathogenic. It is as if we took morphine to help us sleep on a bed on nails. Another generation would have looked for another solution.

Our terror of doctors and of medications is a generalization of the same anxiety that drives us to them, another form of hypochondriasis. Obviously both doctors and medications have the potential to do great harm, first of all because they are creatures of this civilization. Doctors responded too frequently to patients' demands for anitbiotics, for example, and compromised the usefulness of antibiotics in the course of launching a spectacular advance in the evolution of bacteria. I think it is fair to assume that doctors are responding tooo frequently now to other demands, whose consequences willl, in not too long a time, bring fresh and vivid new grounds for anxiety. We will not reflect, or draw the lessons of experience, because fearful people improvise solutions, and feel too powerless to consider a problem from the point of view of their own responsibility. "

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I don't think it is the nurses that are pushing, only some really bad docs and pharmaceutical sales people. A doctor was arrested in Jacksonville, FL this week for handing out scrips without examinations, (cash only of course). I love the doctors I see because they do not over prescribe. As a matter of fact, I asked my OBGYN about something for my bone density, and I got a lecture about how the stuff they advertise on TV is not for me. I feel sorry for the docs when they have to justify to patients why they are not prescribing heavily advertised drugs. There are too many advertisements on TV!! So many people think going to the doctor is kind of like trick or treating, just knock on the door, and hold out a bag!

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Responding to the labor pain issue . . . . . I had 3 "natural" deliveries with a Demerol shot towards the end in #2 and #3 which did absolutely nothing at all except make me a zombie in between very painful contractions . . so for me, Demerol is hooey. :nono:

I didn't get the Demerol until waaaay later in the day (daughter born by emergency c/s at 2am). The little old lady nun came by and asked how I was doing; I told her ok, except I really hurt. She said, "Aren't the pain medicines helping?" I replied I didn't know I could have pain meds.

I never knew an old lady could move so fast. Within minutes a nurse was poking a needle in my hip. And continued to do so on a regular basis. Not sure what the nun said to the staff, but I'm betting it wasn't pleasant.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

This is slightly off topic but just recently, I had read an article that had 2 women debating whether or not taking BCPs to skip your period was OK. One woman thought it was horrible to do that...that we as women should "embrace" our periods. What malarkey. I'm telling you, if I wasn't trying to have a baby in the next 2 years, I'd have a hysterectomy.

What it comes down to for me is this. The OP stated that she felt it was "against her beliefs" to "push meds for the Man". Many of her patients will be needing these drugs, whether she agrees with it or not. This person needs to think long and hard if she wants to become a nurse. I think she can, but she'll have to realize that our patients don't have any obligation to agree with our beliefs and that sometimes, we need to push aside our own beliefs to give that patient good care that is skilled and objective. And sorry, I still feel that the title was a little snarky and the post a little condescending. The OP is entitled to post what she likes but we are entitled to give our opinion as well. Also, we're scaring off newbies by disagreeing with them? Again, this something the OP will have to get used to as a nurse.

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I didn't get the Demerol until waaaay later in the day (daughter born by emergency c/s at 2am). The little old lady nun came by and asked how I was doing; I told her ok, except I really hurt. She said, "Aren't the pain medicines helping?" I replied I didn't know I could have pain meds.

I never knew an old lady could move so fast. Within minutes a nurse was poking a needle in my hip. And continued to do so on a regular basis. Not sure what the nun said to the staff, but I'm betting it wasn't pleasant.

Ahhh . . . . I get it and completely agree. :balloons:

steph

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Well excuse me for being an idealist and caring. I guess I should just keep my mouth shut and not rock the boat. Drugs for everyone! More TV and donuts! Hooray for the Man!

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Oh gees, now you've got something against donuts???

:confused:

:uhoh21:

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I personally am for donuts with prescription drug sprinkles..;). This way, you'd take away a little of the harm done by the donut,(I'm thinking Zetia sprinkles) the drug reps could bring drugs AND free food and everyone is happy. Well, except the crunchy granola brigade. LOL. And the spokesperson for the commercials could be The Man -whoever that is.

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Oh gees, now you've got something against donuts???

:confused:

:uhoh21:

Uh...well...since you asked....yes...I do have something against donuts. They are made of highly processed flour and sugar which was likely treated with pesticides and genetically modified. Then preservatives are added so it will still look like it is actually food for years. Throw in some food coloring so it will remind you what color nutritious real food like fresh fruit and veggies is. MMM MMM nothing like eating something completely devoid of any nutritional value and loaded with dead and clearly harmful stuff.

I guess they could be good as paper weights.:lol2::trout:

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Specializes in Operating Room.

If I'm not mistaken, last spring it was vegatables making people sick(E-coli tainted lettuce and spinach, I think) or was the Ecoli supposed to be good for us, being "organic'' and all? Even so called natural foods and remedies are not always danger free. The FDA doesn't regulate herbals so they can in fact be more dangerous than regular drugs..

Give me a preservative laden donut anyday over poop tainted spinach!

Signed, WitchyRN( spokeswoman and personal flunky for "The Man")

PS..Maybe "The Man" is Homer Simpson! ( UMMMMM, Donuts!):lol2:

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Oh right the FDA is there to protect us helpless citizens. And of course they are not at all influenced by the same pen-giving pharmy reps. Synthetic drugs good....herbal remedies bad. Tobacco good....marijuana bad. God bless the FDA for keeping us all safe!

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