Forgot to sign MAR

[readingwritingtea]

Am i completely screwed?

it hit me like a ton of bricks this morning that i gave a resident her medications (vitamins and colace) but completely forgot to sign the MAR before leaving

what do i do? i've already made one mistake before and i dont know what to do to fix this one

Can i fix it or no?

I've been trying to google what to do but no luck

[OCNRN63, RN]

Call and let your supervisor/NM know that you gave the meds but forgot to sign them off. There's really no way to fix it, but you want to make sure the next nurse doesn't give them. If it were me, I'd go in and sign them as soon as I knew I'd forgotten to do so, with a late notation for the signature.

The next time you work, read your medication administration policy and see what your facility's policy is for forgetting to sign off meds.

[readingwritingtea]

I work in an assisted living facility and i literally just got in trouble for the same thing so i'm not even sure we have one

is there such thing as a late entry on the MAR, i know there's one for charting but i'm not sure about the MAR

[OCNRN63, RN]

I work in an assisted living facility and i literally just got in trouble for the same thing so i'm not even sure we have one

is there such thing as a late entry on the MAR, i know there's one for charting but i'm not sure about the MAR

Most MARs have a space somewhere to note "lat entry." The most important thing is that the nurse(s) following you know the meds were given.

You need to give some thought as to why you're forgetting med documentation. Is it an issue of time management; organization; being frequently interrupted? This can be a serious problem, so you need to get some help to prevent it from recurring. Is there a manager/more experienced nurse you can talk to for suggestions?

[readingwritingtea]

Yeah i was interrupted in the middle of signing (cause i remember i did sign for insulin given on another resident) but we dont have a nurse manager right now but i'm aware it's still my fault for forgetting so i'm working on it

i got move out of a previous department because of it and the reason i forgot to sign was because i had two cards of medication to give and got interrupted and by the time the other nurse had come back on duty i'd forgotten

but thanks for the advice, i'll look for the late entry spot and let my manager know

[Knuckles31]

I'm dealing with the same thing. I'm a new grad and just got this new job at a LTC facility and I kept forgetting a few meds because I was working on improving speed and overlooked a few medications. I asked a few of the nurses how I can improve my accuracy and speed, so they Highlighted all the meds I have to give during my shift. That not only increased my speed tenfold, but am now seeing every med so I can't miss them. They did say that they would go easy on me because of my mistakes. Im glad they are helping me and taking it easy on me since this first week was very intimidating.

[readingwritingtea]

that's great that you're surrounded but such a supportive team :)

[Knuckles31]

Yeah they have been very helpful. Without them I would have been a mess. Lol.

[loriangel14, RN]

Where I work the empty spot is circled in pencil and you sign next time you are in.

[caliotter3]

You should be able to make the notation on the reverse of the MAR. I have only worked one place where the reverse of the MAR was blank, and I just wrote the necessary info there anyway.