“Would You Give This Med?” An Interactive Nursing Pharmacology Activity

Deciding whether to administer or hold a medication can be challenging. This simple “yes or no” active learning activity, Would You Give This Med?, helps students practice clinical judgment in medication administration. 💊

A quote from Anthony Fauci

Why This Matters

Medication decisions at the bedside can feel overwhelming, especially given the immense volume of pharmacology knowledge students must navigate. Clinical scenarios like these frequently test nursing students:

• Managing Vitals: Should a beta-blocker be given to a patient with an abnormal blood pressure reading?

• Lab Monitoring: What lab values should a nurse monitor on a patient taking IV antibiotics?

• PRN Medication Choices: Which PRN option is most appropriate based on current patient assessment?

Teaching students to make quick yes-or-no decisions is critical, as there is no room for ambiguity in these types of medication scenarios.

How to Implement this Activity

This active learning approach can help students build confidence and clinical decision-making skills. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Design Your Scenario:

   • Create a series of short, focused patient scenarios in a PowerPoint or Canva presentation.

   • Provide essential patient background, including the reason for hospitalization and medical history. Balance relevant and irrelevant details to mimic the information overload nurses experience.

2. Keep It Simple:

   • Include one order for one medication per scenario.

   • Example: A patient admitted for heart failure has an order for furosemide (Lasix). Their current assessment includes blood pressure, heart rate, lung sounds, and potassium levels. Then simply ask, “Would you administer the medication?”

3. Facilitate Critical Thinking:

   • Encourage students to discuss their reasoning, highlighting key factors influencing their decision.

   • Address the impact of giving or holding the medication, reinforcing concepts like monitoring for side effects and understanding contraindications.

Examples

Below are a few examples of scenarios that you could use.

✅ Answer Key

This is a simple one, clearly a hold.  I would highlight that NSAIDs carry a high risk of nephrotoxicity, and this medication should be held based on her creatinine level.

Here is another example:

✅ Answer Key

This scenario is a bit more of a grey area.  Is his blood pressure too low for a diuretic?  What about his potassium? Should a loop diuretic be held when he has symptomatic fluid volume excess and the potassium can be replaced?  Is the dose appropriate?  Have students think through what they would do, what clarifications they would ask a provider, and how they would know if it was an effective decision.

✅ Answer Key

Don’t forget to include a normal example.

With any activity, it is great to throw in a normal situation once in a while.  Students can get conditioned to look for something wrong or think that instructors are trying to trick them - when actually it is a simple “yes, I would give that med.”

The best part is that these slides were created in Canva, and you can download the template.  With the update of this post, I have also added two additional scenarios or you can easily start building your own today! 🎇

Variations:

While I originally created this one for clinical post-conference, this activity could also be used in theory courses to reinforce medication knowledge.  These scenarios also make strong exam questions and could be used for alternate format items such as short-answer or true/false.  

Best for:

No limits on this one!  This one could really work anywhere.  

Start Building a Would You Give This Med? Activity

Deciding whether to give or hold a medication can be challenging for students, so providing opportunities to practice this skill in both theory and clinical settings is crucial. The “Would You Give This Med?” activity is easy to implement using the provided template, which can be tailored to clinical scenarios relevant to your curriculum.

Start by brainstorming common medications from your clinical site that require careful judgment. Reflect on your nursing experience, which can inspire unique and practical scenarios. Integrating this simple activity into your lectures is a quick way to expand your active learning library. Remember, you don’t have to transform everything at once; adding one activity at a time is a great start!

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