Witholding PRN pain meds

[Wennie,BSN,RN]

I work with a lot of great Nurses!! The one thing that frustrates me is when receiving report, the Nurse leaving will say things like, " he or she is a drug addict or they aren't really in pain, they were laughing with their family or they were on their cell phone." As Nurses we can be a little judgemental especially with this opiod crisis. I feel like its basic Nursing 101!! Their pain is their pain, if it time to give them the PRN pain med when they ask for it; give it!! Especially if the DOCTOR has written for the patient to have it. The BEST thing to do is assess the patient , of course before and also after. Just saying;) okay I'm gettinh off my soap box now.

[Sour Lemon]

I work with a lot of great Nurses!! The one thing that frustrates me is when receiving report, the Nurse leaving will say things like, " he or she is a drug addict or they aren't really in pain, they were laughing with their family or they were on their cell phone." As Nurses we can be a little judgemental especially with this opiod crisis. I feel like its basic Nursing 101!! Their pain is their pain, if it time to give them the PRN pain med when they ask for it; give it!! Especially if the DOCTOR has written for the patient to have it. The BEST thing to do is assess the patient , of course before and also after. Just saying;) okay I'm gettinh off my soap box now.

You probably do or say things that frustrate your coworkers, too. So stay off the soapbox. I'll give these guys theirs meds on the dot, and they love me for it ...but many of them are drug addicts. If they trust you and you get to know them over time, they'll tell you all about it.

[Green Tea, RN]

I do not mind giving PRN pain meds even if some nurses on the floor say the patient is an addict because we, after all, cannot fix his/her addiction by withholding it during the short hospital stay. This is just my opinion. I know every nurse has his/her opinion on opioid crisis.