Lessons · Nursing · the rights of medication administration
The rights of medication administration, in order
Before a medication leaves your hand: the right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route, the right time, and then the right documentation, written after it is given.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
It is a list because at 0600, with a corridor of patients and an interruption every ninety seconds, the only defence against a wrong tablet is a sequence that does not depend on memory. Patient first, always: every check after it is wasted if it is the wrong person.
How to think about it
Say the list in order, every time, at the cart and again at the bedside. Who, then what, then how much, then how, then when, then write it down. Documentation is last because it records what happened, and charting before giving is charting something that has not happened yet.
Worked example
1. Right patientTwo identifiers, checked against the record, before anything else.
2. Right drugThe label against the order, letter for letter.
3. Right doseThe order's amount against the label's strength, and the arithmetic on paper.
4. Right routeBy mouth, into a vein, under the skin: the order says which.
5. Right timeThe scheduled time, and the window the unit allows around it.
6. Right documentationSigned after it is given, with the time it was given.
Your turn
Write which right is checked first at the bedside.
1. Right
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Charting first so it is not forgotten. A dose signed for and then interrupted is a dose the record says was given and nobody gave. Documentation is the last right for exactly that reason.