Question

SITUATION:

A nurse makes a medication error and a patient goes in to respiratory depression. That nurse must now go before the ethics committee. The nurse is faced with a discussion of the code of ethics for nursing.

PLEASE MAKE A BRIEF REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION

1) Discuss nursing practice that could have prevented the error.

In order to prevent the medication error, the nurse should have performed their three checks and ten medication rights. Following these procedures would have either ensured the correct medication was administered appropriately, or it would have brought up the error to the nurse’s attention, preventing them from administering the medication and therefore protecting the patient. Before administering the medication, the nurse should have checked to make sure they had the right patient, the right medication to be administered, the right dose of the medication, the right time for the administration, the right route for the medication to be administered, and the right assessment performed to ensure the correct medication was administered appropriately. Performing the checks three times along with the ten medication rights would have saved not only the patient, but the nurse as well.

Answer 1

Some of the factors associated with medication errors include the following:

Medications with similar names or similar packaging

Medications that are not commonly used or prescribed

Commonly used medications to which many patients are allergic (e.g., antibiotics, opiates, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

Medications that require testing to ensure proper (i.e., nontoxic) therapeutic levels are maintained (e.g., lithium, warfarin, theophylline, and digoxin)

Three checks are as follows-

Checking the: – Name of the person; – Strength and dosage; and – Frequency against the: Medical order.

Ten medication rights are-

1. Right Drug

2. Right Patient.

3. Right Dose.

4. Right Route.

Check the order if it’s oral, IV, SQ, IM

5. Right Time and Frequency.

Check the order for when it would be given and when was the last time it was given

6. Right Documentation.

Make sure to right the time and any remarks on the chart correctly.

7. Right History and Assessment.

Secure a copy of the client’s history to drug interactions and allergies.

8. Drug approach and Right to Refuse.