Victoria Church-Gandy posted :
In my own practice as an emergency department RN, I frequently have patients with severe nausea and vomiting, and many times it is not relieved with Zofran (ondansetron) alone. It has been my observation that the use of Haldol (haloperidol) as an anti-emetic is actually almost always successful. My theory is that patients with severe nausea and vomiting that is not responsive to Zofran receive relief of symptoms when administered Haldol. Haldol was originally given to mainly palliative and hospice care patients, those with surgeries and cancer diagnoses (Murray-Brown, 2016). It is now being given more frequently in emergency settings for non-psychiatric patients and non-terminally ill patients. In a recent study done to analyze the effectiveness of Haldol versus Zofran, it was found that Haldol is more effective in treating the nausea in postoperative patients. “They reported that ondansetron 4 mg is not as effective as 2 mg haloperidol for reducing the incidence of PONV [post-operative nausea/vomiting]. Yazbeck-Karam et al. [17] in another randomized clinical trial compared haloperidol with ondansetron and reported that haloperidol is not inferior to ondansetron for the early treatment of PONV” (Dag, 2019). It has been my observation that this medication not only decreases nausea and vomiting in the way that Zofran usually does, but it causes my patients to report feeling so much better. I always recommend it to my providers when Zofran has been ineffective, and it always works! This is not a new, ground-breaking concept, but it is new to me and my practice, and has greatly benefitted my patients.
0 comments