 Hey guys, I wanted to make a video and today to talk about the importance of Knowing your pharmacology and looking up medications I recently had a nurse reach out to me who said that she is so busy on her unit that Sometimes she just doesn't have the time to fully look up What a medication is how it works the pharmacology behind it and all of that which I can totally relate to and sympathize with because Sometimes you were just so busy that you just want to take shortcuts or cut corners to get caught up and I really just want to make this video not to criticize that nurse because There's been situations where I haven't looked up a medication and I probably should have or I've cut a corner And I'm sure there's situations in which all of you have but being in the ICU I Really really truly understand now even more so the importance of looking at medications before you give them and Here's a little example for you I had a patient who was on leave a fed which if you don't know what leave a fed is it is Also called norepinephrine. It's a cardiac drip that helps raise blood pressure and this patient that was on the strip Also was still had blood pressure meds ordered to keep their blood pressure down They're on this medication called prososin which I hadn't heard before or it just was unfamiliar to me and I when I took it out of the pixas I was like hmm I wonder what this is and before I went to go give it I looked it up and realized that it's a medication to lower the blood pressure It's also called mini press which that name gives it away a little bit more than prososin but I held that medication because if If we have a patient on a met on a drip to keep their blood pressure up Why would I give them an oral medication that would contradict that and bring their blood pressure down? So that is just a little example But there's tons of examples But that just stresses the importance of looking at medications before you give them even if you are so Busy at least look up just a general description of what it is like is it treating blood pressure Is it a diuretic? Is it an anti-arhythmic? Is it a medicine for pain control? You really just need to know at least that you don't have to look up all six to ten pages of how the Medication actually works in the pharmacokinetics of it and all of that You can say that do that at a time when you're not busy or when you go home after work Whatever, but you should at least have a general idea of what the medication is Especially if a patient asks you like why are you giving this to me? You need to know why you're giving that medication The only exceptions to this is if you are in an emergent situation where maybe you're pushing meds that the doctors order But the doctor is at the bedside ordering those medications Then that would be the only exception but if again if you're not sure what a med is then you probably shouldn't maybe have someone else give it or If you have time to look it up look it up But for sure when you're passing your normal meds or your PRNs look up the medication I appreciate the nurse who messaged me this and was just completely honest and I don't want this video to come off as a lecture or Anything negative towards this nurse because we all have done it We all have given a medication where we have not looked it up Or maybe we thought it was another thing and it was actually something else because medications have such similar names But with that I want to thank you for watching this video Make sure you get a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel and I'll see you guys next time