Medication error interview questions!!!

1.what did the nurse learn about medication errors in their nursing program?

it's been a while since i was in school. but basically, i learned the five rights of medications administration. it was also mentioned that we all were going to make medication errors in our career and one point or another. i believed i would prove them wrong, but i've unfortunately made a few.

2. summarize the nurse's beliefs about the cause and frequency of medication errors.

i believe the causes to be multifactoral. one can look at the high rn to patient ratios, the busy demands and destractions of that high load, the fatigue of working long hours and overtime, etc. as contributing. but also the nurse who gets a little lazy with the five rights of medicaiton administration, who let's his/her guard down needs to be accountable. the frequency of med errors, i'm not sure of, as i really don't hear of many happening on my unit. i'd like to think it's fairly low.

3. how often does the nurse believe nurses do not report a medication error and what are the reasons?

not reporting med errors is probably common, because the nurse may feel no harm will come to the patient. also if the nurse works in a department where medication errors are treated punitively, then they are less likely to report those errors.

4. can the nurse tell you about a medication error on their nursing unit? how did it occur?

i made a medication error years ago involving phenergan. i was to give a patient phenergan for nausea and drew up one syringe of phenergan and one syrine of saline. i used to different needed to color code them in my mind so i knew which was which. it was a busy crazy night with me having a ratio of 8:1 and i remember being very distracted. as i was running down the hall an iv pump beeped in one of my patients rooms and it seemed to need to be flushed. i flushed the line with the other patients phenergan. i immediately realized my errors. the patient had no lasting effects, but was difficult to arouse for a while because it was a high dose of phenergen (50 mg) and he was elderly. needless to say i was devasted.

5. what is the procedure when a medication error occurs?

when we make a medication errors, we report it to the md and write an incident report, which eventually goes to the manager. the manager then counsels us about it and exams the process, to see if there are any changes in our nursing practice that can be changed to prevent future errors. if no sentinal event occurs, that's usually the end of it.

6. what does the nurse feel would be the most helpful information to a new graduate to prevent or lower the incidence of medication errors?

never let your guard down. follow your five rights of medication administration (or is it 8 being taught these days, i'm not sure) 100% of the time, every time. always be paranoid and on the lookout that you too will make a medication error. read lables carefully because many meds look alike. watch where they are stored, sometimes iv meds are stored together and you might grab the wrong one.

7. how are medication errors used to continuously improve the care of their clients?

[color=olive]medication errors can be used as a learning experience. it can be used to identify an area that needs improvements. many drug companies take not of med errors and change their packaging. there has recently been a move to get away from certain confusing abbreviations when ordering medications. if the same type of medication error can be prevented from happening again, patients ultimately benefit.

8. ask the nurse at least 2 questions of interest to you.

any further questions, i'd be happy to answer. just post them here or pm me.

Thank you very much I will get back to you about the other questions. You have helped a great deal I have been stressed about this assignment. As I am sure many 1st semester, probably many nursing students.

My pleasure. :)

I apologize for my dreadful grammar and spelling. Please feel free to edit appropriately. :rotfl: