Nurse's Responsibility for Intravenous Bolus Medications

To the Editor.—  I am writing to give a nurse's opinion on a QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS item entitled "Hospital Nurses Refuse to Give Intravenous Bolus Medications" (241:2823, 1979). This opinion is based on my 12 years of varied nursing experience, including six years of service on the Illinois Nurses' Association Commission on Practice.The questioner, W. E. Feeman, Jr, MD, did not give much detail about what situations surrounded the nurses' refusal to give intravenous (IV) bolus medication, so my statements are necessarily quite general.

1. The scope of practice of Licensed Professional Nurses is defined by State Nurse Practice Acts and then by the policies of the institutions that employ them.

2. Most hospitals have specific policies that cover the administration of IV medications by nurses. Such policies usually include lists of specific medications that a nurse may add to an IV solution, which medications may be "piggybacked," and