What is the nurse's responsibility in an unusual situation when she administers wrong medicine orally?

BCCL kharkhanda Staff Nurse - 2015

Fundamental of Nursing

Medium

Appeared in: BCCL kharkhanda Staff Nurse - 2015

Explanation

The primary responsibility of a nurse after a medication error is to ensure patient safety and follow institutional protocol.
Informing the sister in charge (supervisor) ensures that a coordinated, high-level response can be initiated immediately to protect the patient.
Documenting the event in an incident report is a crucial step for quality improvement, legal record-keeping, and analyzing the root cause to prevent future errors.
This action demonstrates accountability, professionalism, and adherence to the ethical principle of non-maleficence (do no harm).

Option A: Keeping a medication error secret is a serious ethical violation that jeopardizes patient safety and breaches professional standards of honesty and accountability.
Option C: Inducing vomiting is a medical intervention that should only be performed under a physician's direct order. It can be contraindicated and cause further harm, such as aspiration, depending on the medication and the patient's condition.
Option D: While documentation is necessary, simply writing it in a general 'report book' is insufficient. A formal incident report is required for risk management and quality assurance. This option also omits the critical immediate step of verbally notifying the supervisor to initiate a patient safety response.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Knowing Medication error management and professional nursing responsibility helps nurses interpret findings accurately and avoid errors in routine assessment, medication administration, and patient teaching.
Patient safety is the absolute priority in nursing. Prompt and honest reporting of errors is a cornerstone of a safe healthcare environment.
Most healthcare institutions have a non-punitive policy for error reporting to encourage transparency and focus on system improvement rather than individual blame.
Legally and ethically, nurses are obligated to report any event that has the potential to cause patient harm. Failure to do so can result in malpractice claims and action by the state board of nursing.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the core issue of the question: the nurse's professional responsibility after making a mistake.
Analyze the keywords: 'wrong medicine' and 'nurse's responsibility'. This points towards a question about protocol and ethics.
Evaluate each option based on the principles of patient safety, nursing ethics, and standard hospital procedure.
Eliminate options that are clearly unsafe or unethical, such as 'Keep it secret'.
Compare the remaining options. 'Ask the patient to vomit' is an unauthorized medical action. 'Write it in the report book' is an incomplete action.
Select the option that represents the most comprehensive and correct professional response: notifying the chain of command and completing formal documentation.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Medication error management and professional nursing responsibility.
Stem keywords: nurse's responsibility, wrong medicine, unusual situation
Lead-in keywords: What is
Negative lead-in flag: false

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