What would you do? Moral Dilemma

[firstyearstudent]

I have been orienting and I went in to give my patient his once daily dose of IV Neupogen that he is getting x5 for his Stem Cell Harvest and eventual autotransplant and I noticed the the nurse that had been on the previous day shift had not opened the line and it hadn't run in. I'm pretty sure he didn't get it since the patient reported no bone pain the previous day. I told my preceptor and she just shrugged. Should I have reported this or is it better just to pretend you don't notice this type of thing if it probaby won't harm the patient. (They will do a WBC count before harvesting the cells.)

I left it in my preceptors hands but soon I'll be making these decisions for myself. I don't want to get another nurse in trouble. On the other hand, what if an error has ramifications for the patient? And how will this nurse get the feedback to know he/she needs to be more careful.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

I refused to give a med once while doing clinicals. I told the nurse I was with that day I could'nt give it as it was the wromg med. She insisted I give the med as this is what has been given all along,hmmmmm

So I agree with the subjective approach , know what you see, and as it turned out it was the wrong med this poor woman had been receiving. I don't think I was a shy student, but I did care about doing the right task.