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Discussion

Is it a medication error if...?

At your hospitals is it considered a medication error if a medication is pulled from the omnicell but never given (or scaned for computer charting)?

At the hospital I work at the pharmacy department has been writing up more medications errors. When asked what these errors are they state that medications have been pulled from the omnicell but never scaned as given. Therefore they are considering it a medication error.

Is that a true medication error or just a financial error since they just want the patient to be charged if that pulled medication was given or not?

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    I can see several instances where what you are describing could occur if a patient refuses the medication. On my floor this happens most often with heparin, colace, and senna. If the package is already open, or the patient is in isolation I throw the med away. I don't think any of the nurses I work with go back into the pyxis and "waste" the med. Narcotics/controlled substances of course are a whole different animal. Another instance might be that the pill falls onto the floor as I open the package. I throw that pill away, and remove a 2nd pill from the pyxis to give. Again, if it is protonix or magnesium, none of us "waste" the original pill in the pyxis.

    As far as patient billing, at least where I work, patients are billed when we scan a med, not when we remove it from the pyxis.

  • Quote
    I can see several instances where what you are describing could occur if a patient refuses the medication. On my floor this happens most often with heparin, colace, and senna. If the package is already open, or the patient is in isolation I throw the med away. I don't think any of the nurses I work with go back into the pyxis and "waste" the med. Narcotics/controlled substances of course are a whole different animal. Another instance might be that the pill falls onto the floor as I open the package. I throw that pill away, and remove a 2nd pill from the pyxis to give. Again, if it is protonix or magnesium, none of us "waste" the original pill in the pyxis.

    As far as patient billing, at least where I work, patients are billed when we scan a med, not when we remove it from the pyxis.

    But you can see how that leaves you wide open if/when someone decides to start asking what actually happened to these meds.

    At the very least, check your current nursing policies to make sure that your (and your colleagues') handling of this is in accordance with policy.

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