Thursday, August 28, 2008

How experienced a nurse are you? Take this simple quiz and find out!

A patient arrives on your unit with the following list of allergies:

Hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, Demerol, Zofran, Reglan, beef, iodine, tomatoes, Provera, Lupron Depot, acetaminophen, ASA, wheat products, soy, synthetic estrogens, Benadryl, corticosteroids, epinephrine, ketorolac, Ultram, metoprolol, oral potassium, oxygen, Lipitor, fenfluramine, PCN and analogues, mycins, Trazodone, Haldol, allopurinol, Lithium, and Lasix.

Your response is:

A. "Gosh, this person has a lot of medical issues. I'd better get to researching the possible side effects of the other drugs I might give them!"

B. "Gosh, this person must be obese, bipolar, and have hypertension and diabetes. Drag-O."

C. "Hmm. The only two drugs NOT on that list are Dilaudid and Phenergan. Also, oxygen? What, he breathes methane at home? This person is a nutcase."

If your answer was A:

You are obviously a new nurse, concerned with providing good care while protecting your patient from harm. Good for you! Concentrate on that.

If your answer was B:

You are a proficient nurse. You've learned the basics and can recognize common drug interactions and side effects. Keep working! You're doing great.

If your answer was C:

You are an expert nurse. Those of you who answered C will not need me to explain why.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What if you aren't a nurse, but read so many med-blogs and are so cynical you choose C anyway?

Does that mean I'm a shoe-in for nursing school if I decide to go that route?

Penny Mitchell said...

Line me up with Melissa. I picked "C" before I even got to oxygen.

Lord help.

woolywoman said...

Holy crap, she goes to your hospital, too? She sounds just like the patient whose PICC lines always "fall out" in her sleep.

shrimplate said...

I think I know the patient who lists those as her allergies. She must use your facility when she's over your way.

GuitarGirlRN said...

You left out "gravy." We get a lady who is about 500 lbs and states that she is allergic to gravy.

not ENOUGH allergic to it, apparently.

girl_in_greenwood said...

Snort. Working at the county hospital for lo these three months has clearly already made me an expert.

Anonymous said...

thank god she's at your place this week...it's great to know i'm finally an expert at something :D

Anonymous said...

Wow, I know her too - funny, with all those medical problems she sure does do some traveling!! Gah.