The Nurse’s Role When a Patient Takes Medicinal Cannabis

“Nurses are increasingly likely to deal with patients using medicinal cannabis and it is important that they put their personal views to one side and deal with the health consequences of that drug use,” said Anita J. Green, summarizing her research with Kay De-Vries in a press release accompanying the article September issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing.

 

This is particularly relevant to those nurses practicing in one of the 36 states without a medical marijuana law. To examine the pharmaceutical qualities of cannabis and the use of cannabis as a clinical intervention for palliative care, Green and De-Vries, both nurses practicing in the United Kingdom, reviewed more than 50 published papers along with professional guidelines and government guidance documents, official reports, and media coverage, from 1196 to 2009.

 

The researchers found medical professionals have the responsibility to be well informed about how cannabis interacts with other medications prescribed and to accurately document cannabis use in the patients’ chart, something patients may not be comfortable due to the drug illegal status. They concluded that nurses must find a balance between respecting and supporting their patients’ medical use of cannabis and staying within the law and professional guidelines.