In my capacity as a registered nurse, and in that role, one of my primary responsibilities is patient / resident safety. When it comes to medications, all have the potential to produce potentially harmful side effects. Many of the over the counter medications can be just as deadly as prescription medications if they are misused. Some medications should not be combined, so their administration times may need to be staggered. Did you know that if you drink caffeine when taking Tylenol, the caffeine can actually increase the effects of the Tylenol? Whenever I am administering medications, if I come across one that I am not familiar with, or a generic is used in its place that I do not know, I always look it up. Medication errors could be significantly decresed if only the nurse would learn to follow the simple rules of administering the medications.
I work in health care with seniors and am often amazed at the long list of meds they are on.... and no one seems to think their confusion might be related to some sort of reaction all these chemicals might be having.
nice pic! I gotta question for you, right now I take vicoden and neurotin for my spinal injury pain but I been taking them for over 3 yrs now and I think I grew immune to them... What do you think would be a good pain med I could take that might work better but not make me all messed up and tired? I don't like taking pills that make me all tired but yet I also don't like being in alot of pain
I still have a copy on my desk -- but all our computers have built-in medication reference and teaching pages for patients. Everyone has a laptop including ALL the field staff. So RED has been replaced by the internet.
I remember when my best friend was in nurse training and she was swotting up for the drugs part of the course. She said she was OK with the basic drugs and learning to reference the manual but the maths threw her on the dosages!!
Great book to have. You can buy your own from Amazon.com (which is where we got those books (I work with Rick). I have one in my home to watch out for drug interactions.
I think I still have my drug ref. book from when I was in LVN training too,. Rick.
Please tell your brother and his daughter that I have named my sculpture "In Memory of Alyssa". That little angel our yours will never be forgotten!!
well pretty much what I have is my left leg is 3.5cm longer than my right so because of that I have scoliosis and also my 3 lower disks are degenerating and bulged which is pinching my sciatica nerve which causes pain and weakness down my left leg so at times I use crutches or a cane to walk and some days I'm stuck in bed all day in severe pain, I get most of my pain near my left hip which a physical therapist told me my nerve runs through a muscle there and that muscle is very tense and pinching that never even more and I also have atrophy in my left calf.... Right now I take only 2 vicoden 750's a day and 3 neurotin. I do agree that I need something different that will help like the extended release because the vicoden only helps part of the day and only so well. My doctor refuses to put me on anything else and is very stuck in his ways so I'm seeking a new doctor now because my doc is not helping much. I really thank you for your help with this :)
Great shot! I know I used to administer meds at the group home I worked at, and we would look up medications all the time in the big handbook whenever a kiddo got new prescriptions or we had a new kid come in with meds we'd never seen before...It is huge to e responsible for someone else taking medication properly!!
What important advice you've just administered! Your job must be so very rewarding, and it's been a pleasure getting to know about what you do and where. Given the cross referencing you do and the time you're with the patients, I know you're indespensible to the doctors on staff! Thanks for sharing a bit more of your story and insight into your life through today's photo!
I give first aid courses and I'm always surprised to see how much people don't realise the dangers of medications. Even people who work in capacities.... where my grandma lived, they once switched her lunch pills and her evening pills without talking to a nurse or doctor..... so thank you for beign careful and taking good care of people :D
Oh and I was looking back my comments, and realised that you asked me for how long I've had my pet rats but I didn't answer. I've had them for 3 months and they are about 6 months old.
yeh im hearing u , im a aged care nurse in a hostle where i have to administer drugs . In a room with highly demended residents its sometimes hard to concerntrate on giving out medications . The stress at times , but we get through it .
Cool book , ive always wanted to get my hands on one of these .. Be very handy indeed
Great shot of your book! I did know that about caffeine. I am on so many meds for my illnesses that I do have to know the interactions of over the counter stuff. I always take it up to my pharmacist first to see what they say. I also get my meds filled at the same place so that they have records of everything. Sounds like you are a very thoughtful and caring nurse.
Nice shot :)
Please tell your brother and his daughter that I have named my sculpture "In Memory of Alyssa". That little angel our yours will never be forgotten!!
sorry I havent written much lately---overwhelmed with going back to work!! thanks for your comments though and I will catch up soon!! :)
Great photo by the way
Neat shot Rick.
Oh and I was looking back my comments, and realised that you asked me for how long I've had my pet rats but I didn't answer. I've had them for 3 months and they are about 6 months old.
Cool book , ive always wanted to get my hands on one of these .. Be very handy indeed
Anything that can help with decreasing drug interactions is great.
Good shot!