In our professional lives as nurses we all strive to be the best we can,delivery the highest quality of care within our power,some of us are even driven to be perfect,I know Id like to be.
However,given that we are fallible and human its my assumption that All nurses make mistakes,and God help us that they are not serious.
To be specific,its my assumption we ALL make med. errors,but I know nurses who deny they make med errors,and even deny they are even capable of making a med. error.
I work in a system that just ASKS for errors to be made. Unfortunatley until we as nurses start really looking at our systems surrounding medication administration to reduce the POTENTIAL then they alwayse will be made.
One potential for error is the way in which drug companies label the drugs. Dark ampoules with dark writing, clear ampoules with so much written on them it is impossible to read, indiscipherable expiry dates. One of the aspects that annoy me most, though this could be just a local thing - is the lack of information on how to administer some of the IV drugs. I know these points don't fit the classic "5 R's" but is is worrying to find that an important drug has been administered in such a way as to change it's chemical composition i.e. as with PH incompatability. I believe it is time we nurses contacted the relevant drug companies and simply assked them to become more "nurse friendly".
I work in a system that just ASKS for errors to be made. Unfortunatley until we as nurses start really looking at our systems surrounding medication administration to reduce the POTENTIAL then they alwayse will be made.
One potential for error is the way in which drug companies label the drugs. Dark ampoules with dark writing, clear ampoules with so much written on them it is impossible to read, indiscipherable expiry dates. One of the aspects that annoy me most, though this could be just a local thing - is the lack of information on how to administer some of the IV drugs. I know these points don't fit the classic "5 R's" but is is worrying to find that an important drug has been administered in such a way as to change it's chemical composition i.e. as with PH incompatability. I believe it is time we nurses contacted the relevant drug companies and simply assked them to become more "nurse friendly".
gwenith, BSN, RN
3,755 Posts
I work in a system that just ASKS for errors to be made. Unfortunatley until we as nurses start really looking at our systems surrounding medication administration to reduce the POTENTIAL then they alwayse will be made.
One potential for error is the way in which drug companies label the drugs. Dark ampoules with dark writing, clear ampoules with so much written on them it is impossible to read, indiscipherable expiry dates. One of the aspects that annoy me most, though this could be just a local thing - is the lack of information on how to administer some of the IV drugs. I know these points don't fit the classic "5 R's" but is is worrying to find that an important drug has been administered in such a way as to change it's chemical composition i.e. as with PH incompatability. I believe it is time we nurses contacted the relevant drug companies and simply assked them to become more "nurse friendly".
Procation is better than reaction