"Borrowing" one patient's med for another.

[Katie5]

This does not sit too well with me. But it happens all the time. I'm wondering when it comes to documentation, what then do they write?You, "borrowed" from this patient? Or if not, then where did it fall out from.

[VegRN]

I would have to disagree with you, at least in the work situation that I used to work in, I did not see a problem with it. In this situation, all the meds were individually barcoded and in a patient drawer, they were sent up from a central pharmacy. Patients were not charged for meds until they were scanned by the nurse. If one patient did not have a med then we sometimes borrowed it from another drawer since the patients were not yet charged for it and all meds were barcoded which verified that the med was correct prior to administering it to the patient.

Now, if it was not barcoded, was a patients own or there wasn't a scanner to verify that it was correct, then I see what you mean about it being questionable.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

I agree with VegRN - often patients would be on the same meds - Keflex flowed like water on my unit - and if you didn't have one immediately when you needed it we would borrow one and call the pharmacy for a replacement.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

not a good policy to borrow, as you might not take time to read the difference in dosages, there is a chance the next patient will not have what they need, process issues on why the right med is not available is not being addressed and at least some chance of medication error.

[ladyinred667]

Meds are occasionally borrowed on my unit. For instance, if one patient needs Norvir and pharm has not sent it up yet, it can be taken from another patient's bin and replaced later. Everything is barcoded so as long as meds are being scanned as they should, no chance of giving the wrong med or dose.

I would NEVER borrow narcotics or anything controlled, though (although those all come from pyxis anyway).

[oramar]

A lot of people tell would tell you never do that. However, the realities of bedside nursing make it impossible not to do it on occasion. Anyone that works at the bedside knows of what I speak.

[leslie :-D]

This does not sit too well with me. But it happens all the time. I'm wondering when it comes to documentation, what then do they write?You, "borrowed" from this patient? Or if not, then where did it fall out from.

why do you even have to address where you got the med from?

"new order for coumadin 3mg po daily x 1 week, then recheck inr.

1st dose given, a/o."

nurse katie5:nurse:

leslie

[loriangel14, RN]

We borrow routinely where I work. We have a form we fill out stating which pt we borrowed from and for whom and what the drug was. We fax it to pharmacy to let them know. Our drugs aren't bar coded( I'm in Canada), we just take them out of the bottle in the other pts drawer.

[cardiacmadeline, RN]

A lot of people tell would tell you never do that. However, the realities of bedside nursing make it impossible not to do it on occasion. Anyone that works at the bedside knows of what I speak.

I am a bedside nurse, and in 6 years it has never once crossed my mind to borrow meds.. If the med is needed soon, we will take it out of Pyxis or call pharmacy to send it up stat.

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

This brought a smile to my face. Where I work now it's pretty hard to do and not generally necessary; if we get a new order we need right away we can often enter an "override" order in the med Pyxis or call the 24 hour Pharmacy to remotely reprogram the Pyxis so we can access the appropriate med drawer.

But back in the day, I worked at a sub-acute Rehab. Most admissions came in the evening and coumadin orders were often written pretty late. Pharmacy would send the current night's dose and no more and there were nights that Pharmacy left early. We took to hiding any extra doses of coumadin we came across, like if a dose was changed after INR results or if we had a split tab left over. We got very creative where the coumadin was hidden. Pharmacy was scandalized and every so often we would come in in the evening and discover that they had found our "stash" and raided it. I remember for a while we hid the coumadin stash in a plastic bag taped on the back of a picture frame. But our patients did get the right dose of their coumadin in a timely manner because of our sneakiness.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Depends on how fast your pharmacy moves and how available meds are in your pyxis. Between 7a and 3p, I'd rarely have a need, between 11p and 7a, I'd never need to, because our night pharmacy folks are super fast, but between 3 and 11, I could pull the pharmacists' teeth before I'd get stat meds from them. Thing is, if you borrow, you better be sure of what you're giving, since you're skipping the pharmacy's check.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I work in a long-term care setting where there's absolutely no on-site pharmacy. Our medications are delivered from a remote pharmacy located approximately 260 miles from the nursing home where I am currently employed.

If I receive a STAT order, I've got to borrow the med, because it isn't going to arrive in a timely manner from the remote pharmacy. I know that borrowing medication is not the best standard of practice, but I am simply dealing with the reality of possibly getting my license number referred to my state BON if I don't give the initial dose of medication within the legal time frame.