Safe Medication Administration and Error Reduction Flashcards
what medication related tasks are nurses responsible for?
- know federal, state, local laws
- know facilities policies on medication
- prepare and administer meds
- evaluate patient response to meds
chemical name
reflects a medication’s chemical composition and molecular structure
controlled substances
have a potential for misuse and dependence
schedule I
has no medical use
schedule classification for controlled substances with medical uses
schedule II through V
classified by risk of misuse and dependence
schedule II has greater risk than schedule V
Pregnancy Risk Categories
A B C D X
A is safest, X is most dangerous
Mechanism of action
how medications produce their therapeutic effect
Therapeutic effect
expected physiological response
a med can have more than one therapeutic effect
precautions/contraindications
conditions that make it risky or unsafe for a patient to take a specific med
the rights of medication administration
patient
medication
dose
time
route
documentation
education
right to refuse
assessment
evaluation
how to identify patient sufficiently
two patient identifiers required - name, birth date, photo identification card, assigned ID number,
check that ID band matches
ask about allergies or review MAR
use barcode scanner
how to do 3 checks for right medication
when removing container from storage
when removing dose from container
in presence of patient before administration
why is right time important
to maintain therapeutic blood level
when should time-critical medications be administered
within 30 minutes of prescribed time, before or after
when should daily, weekly, or monthly non-time critical medications be administered
within 2 hours of the prescribed time
when should more than once daily non-time-critical medications be administered?
within 1 hour of prescribed time
how should right documentation occur?
after administration
medication, dose, route, time, client’s response to the medication or any other relevant info
how should patients be education on medication
purpose, what to expect, how to take it, what to report
what should you do if patient refuses medication?
explain consequences
document refusal
error-prone abbreviation list
abbreviations that have caused a high number of medication errors
confused medication name list
sound-alike and look-alike medication names
High-Alert Medication List
medications that have a high risk for resulting in significant harm to clients if a nurse administers them in error
what should you do if prescription is not clear or seems inappropriate?
ask the provider
what should you do if prescription seems unsafe
do not administer, talk to charge nurse
