When it comes to medication administration, a nurse must personally prepare any medications properly ordered for a patient and personally administer them. Log In Sign Up Courses Courses Unlimited CE Free CE Courses
This responsibility speaks to a nurse’s accountability when preparing, administering and documenting medications given. Moreover, if you prepare a medication for someone else to administer, but you document the medication as given, you have just falsified that entry in the patient’s medical record.
Here’s something useful for new nurses — a guide to medications for nurses. A nurse’s shift never ends without preparing and giving medications to patients. For this reason, mastering every little detail about medication preparation and administration is essential in improving your skill competency as a nurse.
Nurses must, therefore, begin a new medication with the lowest possible dosage and then increase the dosage slowly over time until the therapeutic effect is achieved. The initial dosage may be as low as ½ of the recommended adult dosage.
Start with the basicsVerify any medication order and make sure it's complete. ... Check the patient's medical record for an allergy or contraindication to the prescribed medication. ... Prepare medications for one patient at a time.Educate patients about their medications. ... Follow the eight rights of medication administration.
Nurses' responsibility for medication administration includes ensuring that the right medication is properly drawn up in the correct dose, and administered at the right time through the right route to the right patient.
7 Rights Of Medication AdministrationMedication administration. ... Right Individual. ... Right Medication. ... Right Dose. ... Right Time. ... Right Route. ... Right Documentation. ... Right Response.
One of the recommendations to reduce medication errors and harm is to use the “five rights”: the right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route, and the right time.
There are five stages of the medication process: (a) ordering/prescribing, (b) transcribing and verifying, (c) dispensing and delivering, (d) administering, and (e) monitoring and reporting.
Check that the prescription is unambiguous/legible and includes the medicine name, form (and/or route of administration), strength and dose of the medicine to be administered (RPS and RCN, 2019).
Prior to the administration of medications, the nurse must check and validate the medication order, and also apply their critical thinking skills to the ordered medication and the status and condition of the client in respect to the contraindications, pertinent lab results, pertinent data like vital signs, client ...
WHAT ARE THE THREE CHECKS? Checking the: – Name of the person; – Strength and dosage; and – Frequency against the: Medical order; • MAR; AND • Medication container.
These 6 rights include the right patient, medication, dose, time, route and documentation. Futhermore, nurses are also urged to do the three checks; checking the MAR, checking while drawing up medication and checking again at bedside.
One of the first general principles in medication administration that a nurse must adhere to is to personally prepare any medications properly ordered for a patient and to personally administer those medications.
Prior to the administration of medications, the nurse must check and validate the medication order, and also apply their critical thinking skills to the ordered medication and the status and condition of the client in respect to the contraindications, pertinent lab results, pertinent data like vital signs, client allergies, and potential interactions of the medication that is to be given.
Educating the Client About Medications. Clients and significant others should be taught about all aspects of the medications that they are taking. The content of this teaching and education should minimally include: The purpose of the medication. The dosage of the medication. The side effects of the medication.
The importance of keeping medications in a secure place that would not place a curious child or a cognitively impaired adult at risk for taking medications not intended for them. The proper and safe disposal of any biohazardous equipment such as used needles that the client uses for insulin and other medications.
The importance of taking the medication as instructed. The need to continue the medication unless the doctor discontinues it. Information about foods, supplements and other medications, including over the counter medications and preparations, that can interact with the ordered medication.
The sites for intramuscular medications are the gluteus maximus, the deltoid muscle, the vastus lateralis, the rectus femoris muscle, and the ventrogluteal muscle. The gluteus maximus muscle and the deltoid muscle are NOT used for infants or young children who are less than 3 years of age.
Have the client then firmly place their lips around the mouthpiece immediately after the strong exhalation. Press the bottle against the mouthpiece to release the medication while the person is taking in a long, slow inhalation. Instruct the client to hold their breath for a couple of seconds and then slowly exhale.
Otic Route Administration. Warm the ear drops to body temperature. Instruct the person to lie on their side so that the ear to receive the medication is upright. Straighten out the ear canal by pulling the auricle up and back for the adult and down and back for the infant and young child less than 3 years of age.
Most meds are to be pushed around 1-2 minutes, but always check! Sometimes you need to reconstitute with some normal saline, but most IV push meds are ones that you draw up from the vial and administer without diluting/reconstituting with saline.
So their primary IV fluids (normal saline, half normal saline, D5, D10, normal saline with potassium added, etc.) are the main fluids running. When you need to hang an IV antibiotic, you typically “piggy back” (hence the term IV piggyback) this onto your primary fluids, provided they are compatible.
The most common med given this way is insulin! So, so much insulin. Another common one is subcutaneous heparin (for DVT prophylaxis). You’ll give so many insulin injections, you’ll lose track after the first two weeks. It’s a smaller needle and you pinch some skin in various approved areas and inject.
Sometimes patients take things for an off-label use. So don’t forget to take a peek at off-label uses for the medication before you freak out. Typically nursing students have to look up the meds that their patient is on the night before their shift. Therefore, you’re looking things up without physically seeing them.
As described above, nursing competency is a complex integration of knowledge including professional judgment, skills, values and attitude. It is an intelligent practical skill set that integrates or combines different factors and issues in complex ways, specific to each circumstance.
Nursing practice, by itself, is crucial for competency improvement. Needless to say, nursing practice is situation-dependent. To reflect on a particular clinical situation, it is important to understand the background of that situation.
On the other hand, competency is a behavioral characteristic that is based on one’s interests and experiences influenced by his/her motivation and attitude. It is an optimal behavioral trait that likely leads to achievements. Competence (ability) is a premise for developing competency (behavioral characteristics).
In other words, effective reflection is closely related to nursing competency improvement. Professional nursing practice includes making judgments, both as a care provider and learner, and reflecting upon one’s actions as the care is being delivered, and after the care is completed.
The Association defines core nursing competency as “the ability to perform clinical nursing care that is based on the nurse’s ethical thinking and accurate nursing skills and that is provided to meet the needs of the cared.”.
Therefore, it is important to clearly define nursing competency in order to establish a foundation for nursing education curriculum.
Competence is an ability acquired through experience and learning. The concept of competence is two-fold: 1) potential abilities that may work effectively under certain circumstances and 2) motivation to show one’s usefulness using those abilities.
This is important because some parenteral medications are not compatible to be administered in an IV line with ongoing drug incorporation. In cases such as these, you might need to start another IV line.
For example, if you were asked to administer Furosemide or Captopril, you should check for the patient’s blood pressure level first.
A drug is reconstituted to a 100-1000 ml of saline or any other ordered parenteral fluid. The reconstituted drug is prepared to be infused at an ordered rate per hour through an IV pump. It is usually hooked as a side drip in a mainline.
As a rule of thumb, you should never give any medicine when you’re not sure what it’s for. As a nurse, you should always know the rationale behind the physician’s order for it.
A parenteral drug preparation needs to be reconstituted to be administered directly to the vein or to the IV line. Not all parenteral drugs can be given through IV push and some preparations need to be administered slowly. Read the drug’s literature well before giving it through IV push.
Proper preparation and medication administration. One of the first general principles in medication administration that a nurse must adhere to is to personally prepare any medications properly ordered for a patient and to personally administer those medications.
In contrast, if the nurse who administered the medication that you prepared documents the medication as given, your nurse colleague also has falsified the entry, since he or she did not prepare the medication. Falsification of any record is a serious allegation that can result in an employee being fired or reported to the state board of nursing.
Nor is it acceptable practice to administer a medication that another has prepared. The reasons for this strict rule are numerous. First and foremost, because preparation and administration are fraught with potential for error, relying on another nurse to prepare a medication that you administer is dangerous at best.
Although there may be instances in which more than one healthcare provider may be required to administer a single medication, such as in a code, it is not generally acceptable practice to prepare any type of medication for another person to administer.
In addition, since you administered a medication you did not personally prepare, you will need to overcome the testimony of a nurse expert that a general, cardinal rule in administering medications is that one never administers a drug not personally prepared.
Educate patients about their medications. Encourage them to speak up if something seems amiss. Follow the eight rights of medication administration. Know that interruptions and distractions have a marked effect on your performance, causing a lack of attention, forgetfulness, and errors.
Verify any medication order and make sure it’s complete. The order should include the drug name, dosage, frequency and route of administration. If any element is missing, check with the practitioner. Check the patient's medical record for an allergy or contraindication to the prescribed medication.
If required by your facility, wear a special vest, apron, sash, lighted lanyard, or other item that indicates that you are administering medications and shouldn’t be interrupted.
Mistakes can happen at any point in the process. Administration errors are one of the most serious and most common mistakes made by nurses. The result may lengthen a hospital stay, increase costs, or have life and death implications for the patient. So, what can you do to safely administer medications?
The left side of the medication education sheet has the purpose of the medication and the most common side effects. The right side has the list of the most commonly used medications of that type at Beebe Healthcare.
According to psychologists Dzulkifli and Mustafar, color can have a positive effect on memory. 2
Medication Administration Teaching Modules. The Registered Nurse is accountable for validating the qualifications of personnel to whom nursing care is assigned or delegated. Qualifications include the knowledge and skills directly related to the nursing activities to be performed.
The Registered Nurse is responsible for assuring the delivery of safe patient care by establishing the mechanisms for validation of knowledge, skills, and competency. Before delegating the technical task of medication administration to Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP), the Registered Nurse and Licensed Practical Nurse are accountable ...
Review procedures for the following activities related to ordering medications at the adult care home and teach/demonstrate: simple refills; emergency pharmaceutical services; receiving medications when delivered from the pharmacy; accounting of medications administered by staff.
During the Medication Administration – 5-hour Training Course, you will be tested on skills listed below. You will be expected to do the skill without comments or instruction from your instructor/evaluator.
A student manual may be created using the handout and activities. The student may benefit from review of the materials prior to the training. The student should receive a copy of the skills checklist. The information will help the student understand and perform the basic competencies required to safely administer medications by the following routes: oral, sublingual (under the tongue), otic (ear), ophthalmic (eye), nasal (nose), topical (on the skin), and inhalant (breathed into the lungs).
A Medication Aide in adult care homes is an individual who has successfully completed the required Medication Aide course(s) approved by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, passed the state written medication exam for unlicensed staff in adult care homes and has competency skills validation at the employing facility.
If the resident refuses and gives no reason, wait a few minutes and then offer the medication again. If the resident refuses again, try again in another few minutes before considering a final refusal. This is particularly important with residents who have a diagnosis of dementia.
The pharmacy also may not accept a verbal order from a Medication Aide