So...help a nurse out

[Hoody]

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Just came across the thread about mixing protonix for NG tubes.


Can a pharmacist tell me why the VA insists on using omprezole for NG tubes? This is absolutely the most frustrating thing as all the little balls clog up the tube. Most of the med does not make its way in.

I read something in the other thread (now closed) about mixing it with apple juice? I can do this on our non diabetic pts - does it help mix?

Is it because nothing else will substitute for omprezole on vent patients? or is it cause the VA is cheap and will only use first line drugs?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Just came across the thread about mixing protonix for NG tubes.


Can a pharmacist tell me why the VA insists on using omprezole for NG tubes? This is absolutely the most frustrating thing as all the little balls clog up the tube. Most of the med does not make its way in.

I read something in the other thread (now closed) about mixing it with apple juice? I can do this on our non diabetic pts - does it help mix?

Is it because nothing else will substitute for omprezole on vent patients? or is it cause the VA is cheap and will only use first line drugs?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

A PPI is a PPI. Any of them will do and are roughly interchangable. (Well...there's this thing with Plavix...but that's a whole other story.)

Basically, they've calculated that your labor and frustration costs less than just using Protonix. 👍

 

[Hoody]

A PPI is a PPI. Any of them will do and are roughly interchangable.

This is what I thought. 👍

Basically, they've calculated that your labor and frustration costs less than just using Protonix. 👍

This is what I figured. 👎


I'm assuming at one point, one of the pharms probably made a suggestive switch to the Doc. Obviously, like most suggestions, it didn't go over with the Doc.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

If where you work is like most places, they get one PPI for pennies where the others costs dollars. It quite literally saves tens of thousands, if not more, annually to specifically use whichever PPI you guys have on contract. The reasons pharmacies use specific agents when multiple alternatives are available can be very complex...both clinically and financially...but you're gonna just have to deal with it. The pharmacy gods have spoken.

 

[Hoody]

If where you work is like most places, they get one PPI for pennies where the others costs dollars. It quite literally saves tens of thousands, if not more, annually to specifically use whichever PPI you guys have on contract. The reasons pharmacies use specific agents when multiple alternatives are available can be very complex...both clinically and financially...but you're gonna just have to deal with it. The pharmacy gods have spoken.

you mean the Patient who isn't getting his meds will have to deal with it....


im not suprised that the answer is complex. everything in medicine is complex. gar. 🙁

 

[xiphoid2010]

I'm assuming at one point, one of the pharms probably made a suggestive switch to the Doc. Obviously, like most suggestions, it didn't go over with the Doc.

VA operates on a very lean budget, and does a ton of pharmacoeconomic studies.

We had a speaker from VA came in who told us that they change patients from one PPI to another depending on what's the cheapest that month. But I also heard that they use antihistamines as the first line sleep-aid, and only added ambien to the formulary recently with a monthly limit of 14 tablets. 😱

 

[BMadjuster]

VA operates on a very lean budget, and does a ton of pharmacoeconomic studies.

We had a speaker from VA came in who told us that they change patients from one PPI to another depending on what's the cheapest that month. But I also heard that they use antihistamines as the first line sleep-aid, and only added ambien to the formulary recently with a monthly limit of 14 tablets. 😱

I wasn't aware that Zolpidem hit the formulary. It has been Trazodone, AHs, and Benzos forever.

 

[Tygacil]

Prevacid solutab ftw