urgent: responsibilities in parenteral medication

loriangel14, RN · Jul 12, 2006

ok,here's what I found.

When drugs are given parenterally rather than orally,(1) the onset of the drug action is generally more rapid but of shorter duration, (2) the dose is often smaller,as drug potency tends not to be immediately altered by the stomach or liver, and (3) the cost of drug therapy is often greater.Drugs are administered by injection when all of the drug must be absorbed as eapidly and completely as possible or at a steady controlled rate, or when a patient is unable to take a medication orally because of nausea and vomiting.

Drug preparation and administration errors have been identified as contributing factors to the high incidence of adverse drug events.The actual rate of errors occurringduring the preparation and administration of medicines is not known, but the potential is high.Thus the nurse must be diligent to prevent errors fromoccurring.

The role of the nurse in providing accurate drug administration necessitates attention to details in all facets of pharmacotherapy.It is essential that nurses preapring and administering medications focus on (1) the basic knowledge needed regarding the individual drugs being ordered,prepared, and administrated;(2)symptoms for which the medication is prescribed, and collection of baseline data to be used for evaluation of the theraputic outcomesdesired for the prescribed medicine; and (3) the nursing assessments needed to detect,prevent or ameliorate adverse events.Finally,the nurse must exercise clinical judgement about the scheduling of new drug orders, missed dosages,modified drug orders,or substitution of theraputically equivalent medicines by the pharmacy, or changes in the patients condition that require consultation with the physician,health care provider, or pharmacist.

Let me know if this is the type of thing you are looking for and I will send you more.