Fundamentals of Nursing Q 255
A patient is in the bathroom when the nurse enters to give a prescribed medication. What should the nurse in charge do?
A. Leave the medication at the patient’s bedside.
B. Tell the patient to be sure to take the medication. And then leave it at the bedside.
C. Return shortly to the patient’s room and remain there until the patient takes the medication.
D. Wait for the patient to return to bed, and then leave the medication at the bedside.
Correct Answer: C. Return shortly to the patient’s room and remain there until the patient takes the medication
The nurse should return shortly to the patient’s room and remain there until the patient takes the medication to verify that it was taken as directed. With the growing reliance on medication therapy as the primary intervention for most illnesses, patients receiving medication interventions are exposed to potential harm as well as benefits. Benefits are effective management of the illness/disease, slowed progression of the disease, and improved patient outcomes with few if any errors. Harm from medications can arise from unintended consequences as well as medication error (wrong medication, wrong time, wrong dose, etc.).
Option A: The nurse should never leave medication at the patient’s bedside unless specifically requested to do so.
Option B: With inadequate nursing education about patient safety and quality, excessive workloads, staffing inadequacies, fatigue, illegible provider handwriting, flawed dispensing systems, and problems with the labeling of drugs, nurses are continually challenged to ensure that their patients receive the right medication at the right time.
Option D: Examples of errors that can be initiated at the transcribing, dispensing, and delivering stages include failure to transcribe the order, incorrectly filling the order, and failure to deliver the correct medication for the correct patient.