What would you call "Practicing Medicine"

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello everyone.

Just a curious thought for the day. What examples for a nurse "Practicing Medicine" can you give.:nono:

Ex: Giving meds without a MD order.

Changing med dosage without MD order.

Holy crud, CCURN: how did you even find this five-year-old thread??

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Have a doc in our facility who writes "insulin sliding scale" but does not indicate name of insulin. Regular? Humalog? Novolog? Apidra? Copied some of those orders and gave to CNO who gave him a call and he said, "Aw, the nurses know what I mean". She told him knowledge is not the issue, license is the issue. Beware of good intentions.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
IMO, "Daily" doesn't mean at 0800 or 0900 or whatever random time that pharmacy deems to be what they'll put on the MAR for "daily" meds. So as long as you weren't giving it 2x a day or something like that, just daily, I don't think it matters what time you give them, as long as it's "daily." And if it worked at the hospital, telling him that's what you did and worked well and he should probably do at home, well, I don't see a problem.

Exactly. I have been places where daily means 9am others 8am. I've had the pharmacy time a daily med for 8am, the pt says 'but I always take it right before bed.' Some meds should be given at a certain time of day (example, synthroid before breakfast). Otherwise, the order for 'daily' without a time specified by the doctor can be moved to an time daily.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
How about giving a fleet's enema that the doc ordered (after he was called asking for this order) -- having no success and deciding to go ahead with a soapsuds enema without an order?

Oh and manual disimpaction after the soapsuds...

Then a mineral oil fleet's for good luck...

Is that practicing medicine???

I'm seriously asking.....

Yes, it is.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

Much of what I do as a full time rapid response nurse FEELS like practicing medicin. However officialy since I have standing orders and protocals for what I do I am not. For example when a post CABG patient goes into asymptomatic rapid a-fib and the staff RN calls me I will give IV lopressor 5mg until he becomes rate controled or converts or gets 3 doses. If lopressor is ineffective I will order and administer an amioderone bolus and drip. If sympotomatic I will usually attempt cardioversion with the assistance of a CRNA and second critical care RN. There are no physicians around when I do these things so it FEELS very much like practicing medicin but officialy I am not. I think many, many RNs are in the same boat.

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