Nursing Tips: Pharmacology Basics

A medication's half-life is the amount of time it takes for the amount of medication in the body to be reduced by 50%.

A medication reconciliation is the process of compiling a complete and up-to-date list of medications a patient has been taking at home (including over-the-counter and herbal supplements) and comparing it with the provider's orders.

A dry powder inhaler (DPI) does not require the patient to shake the device or use a spacer. Instead, the patient should breathe in rapidly and deeply to move the dry powder fully into the lungs.

"Now" and "STAT" orders are similar, but have different time-frames for administration.

For intramuscular injections under 1 year old, use vastus lateralis muscle!

For blood transfusion, prime the administration set with 0.9% NaCl ONLY.

Do NOT administer any medications through a patient's parenteral nutrition (i.e. TPN) IV line! You need to use a separate line.

Best practices for telephone orders

For enteral feeding tubes, flush tubing with 15-30ml of water before, after, and in between medications

If your patient's next parenteral nutrition (i.e. TPN) line is unavailable, administer 10-20% dextrose in water until it arrives!

When administering iron dextran via IM injection, use the Z-track method!