Question

what is the common mistakes of the nurse can do during drug administration?

Answer 1

Here are few mistakes nurses tend to do during drug administration. Some of them might seem obvious and ridiculous but I have seen people do it. So let's go through most common ones.

• Wrong medication to wrong patient. This happens when we tend to medicate multiple patients. This could be due to mix up of drugs or any deviation.
• Wrong dosage. This happens especially more in injectables, infusion drip medications and insulin.
• Wrong timing
• Wrong frequency
• Wrong route: This is also a problem that arises while giving injectable medications. Intra muscular, sub dermal and Inta venous routes are often altered.
• Medicating patient without educating the patient about drug and route of entry. This is very important when a new medication is added as patients have right to refuse the medication. Better inform not to face legal issues in future.
• Medication without proper monitoring vitals. Always monitor the vitals before administering medication.
• Even though rare people did inject air into the veins which could potentially kill the patient. Also some forget to close the entry portal of an intravenous cannula.
• Injecting the intramuscular or sub dermal medication without checking the position of the tip of the needle. Make sure it did not enter a vein or artery accidentally.
• Not monitoring the patient after giving medication especially when a new drug is added to the treatment. Always check for any allergic reactions to the drug.
• Not documenting the treatment given. This is important to save youself legally and also helps nurses from next shift to not over dose the patient.

These are some of the common mistakes made during drug administration. Hope this helps you. Please feel free to give a like and contact us if you have any queries. Thank you, have a great day and take care.