What meds do you see the most often?

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I will be starting in a LTC facility soon and wanted to get familiar with the most common meds you usually see! Thanks.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

Colace. Lots and lots of colace. :cheers:

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Colace. Lots and lots of colace. :cheers:

*snort*

And senna.

Know the beta blockers (olols), ACE inhibitors (prils), diuretics, digoxin, coumadin.

You'll be dealing with lots of hypertension and CHF. Chronic pain from arthritis. People who had strokes.

And all of the dementias in all of their stages. So seroquel for the psychotic aspects, depakote for that and behaviors, and sometimes zyprexa. Namenda and Aricept, neither of which I can see having any effect.

Oh, Sinemet (carbidopa/levidopa) for Parkinsons.

Good luck! HTH.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

Namenda and Aricept, neither of which I can see having any effect.

Amen to that.

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Specializes in Diabetes ED, (CDE), CCU, Pulmonary/HIV.

if you are a new nurse, just think of any of the meds you used there for older patients. Think heart, high blood pressure, CHF. Beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors(generic names usually end in pril--fosinopril, lisinopril, benazopril, captopril, Accupril, Zestril, and ARB's(generic name usually ends in "sartan")Diovan -valsartan, irbesartan - Avapro, candesartan - Atacand, losartan -Cozaar. There are more in all of these classes. Then there are combination pills: Hyzaar = Cozaar + HCTZ.

You'll give lots of digoxin, Lasix (furosemide), possibly Bumex.

Also diabetes. You'll see glyburide, glipizide, glimeperide, metformin, Actos.

You'll be giving so many different drugs (maybe not Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra), that it's best to learn the drug classes and how they work. Then when you see a med you're not familiar with, look it up.When you see what class it's in, you'll have a headstart on understanding the drug.

Don't forget insulin. There are many different formulations of insulin available now. It's important to understand when and how quickly each works.

Anyone with LTC experience: How do you make sure insulin is given at correct time? Especially if Regular insulin is still being used since it shpu;d be given 30 - 45 minutes ac.

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Anyone with LTC experience: How do you make sure insulin is given at correct time? Especially if Regular insulin is still being used since it shpu;d be given 30 - 45 minutes ac.

I can't believe I left out insulin!

Insulin is one of the few that we are all anal about giving on time. Most folks are on Lantus in the p.m. and Novolin N or 70/30 regularly scheduled. Regular (Novolin R) is almost solely used for coverage.

My current facility has everyone on an individual sliding scale with fingersticks scheduled according to the resident's "brittleness."

It's OJ, nothing, or x units of regular. (BTW, those dumb "InstaGlucose" variations are worthless. Four oz of OJ, the old standby, is far superior, proving once again that Mother Nature is often the best.)

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Beta-blockers, insulin, Colace, Lasix, potassium, ferrous sulfate, multivitamins, Norvasc, lisinopril, clonidine, Glucophage, Zocor, Lipitor, Natural Tears eyedrops, Fleets enemas, Bisacodyl suppositories, Restoril, Ativan, Xanax, hydrocodone, Darvocet, tramadol, Albuterol, Atrovent, Xopenex, Duoneb, Vitamin C, meclizine, Flexeril, Cardizem, Digoxin, urecholine, Lactaid, melatonin, namenda, exelon, Tylenol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Altace, oxygen, Ambien, risperdal, Mucinex, Dilantin, tegretol, allopurinol, Ben Gay, prednisone, MS Contin, spironolactone, zaroxalyn, seroquel, zyprexa, Benadryl, Claritin, Senakot, Oscal, Actonel, Vitamin B12, coumadin, lovenox, arixtra, Atarax, levothyroxine, Armour Thyroid, Reglan, phenergan, Tigan, hydrochlorothiazide, Aricept, Comtan, carbidopa/levodopa, nitroglycerin, theophylline, protein powder, Starlix, occuvite, isosorbide mononitrate, isosorbide dinitrate, betaxolol, Celebrex, meloxicam, Plavix...and more!

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Beta-blockers, insulin, Colace, Lasix, potassium, ferrous sulfate, multivitamins, Norvasc, lisinopril, clonidine, Glucophage, Zocor, Lipitor, Natural Tears eyedrops, Fleets enemas, Bisacodyl suppositories, Restoril, Ativan, Xanax, hydrocodone, Darvocet, tramadol, Albuterol, Atrovent, Xopenex, Duoneb, Vitamin C, meclizine, Flexeril, Cardizem, Digoxin, urecholine, Lactaid, melatonin, namenda, exelon, Tylenol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Altace, oxygen, Ambien, risperdal, Mucinex, Dilantin, tegretol, allopurinol, Ben Gay, prednisone, MS Contin, spironolactone, zaroxalyn, seroquel, zyprexa, Benadryl, Claritin, Senakot, Oscal, Actonel, Vitamin B12, coumadin, lovenox, arixtra, Atarax, levothyroxine, Armour Thyroid, Reglan, phenergan, Tigan, hydrochlorothiazide, Aricept, Comtan, carbidopa/levodopa, nitroglycerin, theophylline, protein powder, Starlix, occuvite, isosorbide mononitrate, isosorbide dinitrate, betaxolol, Celebrex, meloxicam, Plavix...and more!

LOL. Liked the Ben Gay one

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Oh, yeah, Synthroid - levoxythyrine.

Commuter, you work in my facility?

;)

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Specializes in jack of all trades, master of none.

Am I too sleepy to see if someone covered the Haldol? Or do LTC's even use that stuff anymore? Been awhile for me.

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Am I too sleepy to see if someone covered the Haldol? Or do LTC's even use that stuff anymore? Been awhile for me.

Very infrequently, and only for the MOST agitated and dangerous.

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Specializes in GERIATRICS, DEMENTIA CARE, MED-SURG.

Remeron, xxanax...............KCl............vicodin........methadone..folic acid......metformin............glyburide

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