PRN pain medication intervals and maximum daily dose

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Mon, 03/02/2015 - 16:54

Lauren Gashlin

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Last seen: 1 week 6 days ago

Joined: 12/08/2014 - 09:22

PRN pain medication intervals and maximum daily dose

Hello,

What policies/procedures have other institutions put in place to address the issue of "how early is too early" to give a prn medication? For example, if the medication is oxycodone 5 mg every 4 hours PRN moderate pain, is it acceptable to give the next dose 3.5 hours, 3 hours, or 2 hours, etc after the last dose?

1) Do you have a policy in place addressing PRN intervals or early PRN administration?

2) Do you ask providers to specify a maximum daily dose (similar to outpatient prescriptions in some states)? Is the EMR able to track this and fire a warning?

Many thanks in advance for any advice/experience you can offer,

Lauren Gashlin PharmD

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - Drug Information

UR Medicine

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