FIELD REFERENCE
Full criteria & treatment guidance
Indications
- Temporary relief of hay-fever/upper-respiratory allergy symptoms for the cited loratadine tablet.
Contraindications & local exclusions
- The cited loratadine tablet label excludes prior allergy to the product or its ingredients.
Precautions
- Liver/kidney disease may require a different dose; excess dosing may cause drowsiness. Check pregnancy/breastfeeding advice and the actual formulation. Claritin-D and other antihistamines are not interchangeable with plain loratadine.
- These are selected safety checks, not a complete prescribing monograph. Product labeling and OCEMS authorization answer different questions; confirm the actual product, patient population and applicable order.
Scope & authority
- FS-ARN scope only; this listing is not a general ALS/BLS administration order.
- SO-F-02 supplies no pediatric field regimen.
Adult / adolescent
- SO-F-02 permits an authorized Fire Service RN to maintain this listed OTC product/category while functioning in the fire-service role. It is made available to firefighting personnel without a known allergy to the product.
- Use this medication only for the indications and doses printed on its container. OCEMS does not publish a universal dose for this product. Eligible personnel must obtain the medication from its container without assistance.
Pediatric
- SO-F-02 applies to adult and adolescent fire-service personnel. It does not authorize pediatric 9-1-1 dosing, and this page does not add consumer pediatric doses.
- Do not convert a package’s consumer pediatric directions into OCEMS field authority. Use an applicable pediatric standing order or medical direction for a child requiring care.
Pediatric dosing availability
- SO-F-02 supplies no pediatric 9-1-1 dosing or administration authority. This page does not add consumer pediatric doses.
| Weight | OCEMS pediatric dose |
|---|---|
| Any weight | No general OCEMS pediatric dose is listed; follow the applicable order or medical direction. |
Use, monitoring & documentation
- Identify the exact product, active ingredients, strength, and label before use; products in a named OTC category can have different formulations.
- Follow the product’s labeled indications, exclusions, dose, and interval within the authorized program. The absence of an EMS numerical dose here is intentional: SO-F-02 delegates those details to the product label.
UNDERSTAND THE CARE
Brand recognition does not replace the label
Claritin is the non-prescription antihistamine example in the program list. Confirm the exact product and formulation, including whether it contains additional ingredients, and use the matching current label. This program reference does not replace the acute-anaphylaxis pathway. The linked OCEMS document establishes the program context; a product-specific label answers a different question about the selected preparation.
Applying the guidance
Confirm that the person and setting fit the FS-ARN program before using the supply listing. Then reconcile the container, ingredients, strength, route and label with the intended use and document what was actually used. If the exact product is not established, retain that uncertainty rather than filling the gap with a consumer dose from another formulation. The pediatric limitation remains explicit.
Diagram text & teaching checkpoints
- Program
- Eligible FS-ARN setting and personnel.
- Identity
- Exact product, ingredients and formulation.
- Label
- Current directions, allergy and exclusions.
- Record
- Product and actual amount; no invented pediatric regimen.
Sources for this explanation
Original OCMedic teaching synthesis of the references below. Educational expansion updated ; this is not a new independent clinical-review date. Source-specific dates and limitations remain in the full guidance.
Identify plain loratadine before using the reference label
The linked label is for a loratadine tablet. Match that identity to the actual package before carrying over its warnings or directions. A similarly branded combination product is not established by this reference, and a liquid or other formulation should be checked against its own label.
The reference tablet label calls for medical advice with liver or kidney disease and warns that taking more than directed may cause drowsiness. Those are useful checks for the selected product, but they do not explain every symptom that someone may call an allergy. Keep the clinical presentation separate from the product name.
This page’s local authority remains the FS-ARN OTC program. It does not replace the emergency anaphylaxis pathway and should not be used to derive pediatric field dosing from a consumer package. In a product reconciliation, document the formulation and prior amount and time taken, rather than assuming that “Claritin” identifies the same preparation in every encounter.
Sources: SO-F-02 · Product label