Saturday, July 3, 2010

OD formula

I'm still beta testing this. I've noticed a problem in overdose cases where the number of meds people say they took does not reflect reality accurately. Here is my suggestion:

Number of meds pt states they took/ (number of outgoing phone calls from room+number of visits this year+number of requests related to food or socks)

If none of the above apply, take the original number and move on to the next step.

Subtract one point for each family member present.
Subtract two points for patients between the ages of 17 and 25
Add one point if they took prescription vs. OTC meds
Subtract 5 points for trying to leave.
Subtract 2 points for each time you have to call the police.
Subtract a point for every time you have to ask for a urine sample.
Subtract a point for every other drug on the urine drug screen (THC doesn't count in my system, because it's absolutely insane that Marjuana isn't legal yet)
Add one point for blood alcohol level twice the legal limit or greater.
Subtract 3 points for people with blood alcohol at or below the legal limit who act way drunker than they really are.
Subtract 5 points for fighting with the significant other in the room.

That's the basic outline. Try this in your hospital and let me know how it works for you. I'll make a nifty bar graph and include it in my fake thesis.

1 comment:

  1. Muahahah being an ER nurse...i find this sooo true

    had a pt family say they took 32 lortabs and 20 some xanax that was the familys prescriptions...hmm

    ReplyDelete