BarryGrad RN

I agree with grandmawrinkle. It is unrealistic that you will go back and check the chart for every order of every medication. That is the reason hospitals have protocols for verifying the medication/ What I think is most important to teach your student is why the patient is in the hospital NOW and why they are giving the medication. From my experience, I have noticed that patients that have stayed 20+ days in the hospital the story of what has happened to them gets lost and is usually incorrect. I think its actually more important to read some of the consults from the beginning of the admission to see what has happened to your patient. For example, I just had patient transferred to me from ICU, who had been in the hospital for 20+ days. I really didn't get a background story on what has happened to her and why her surgery was on hold. I then looked back at her originally admit notes from the ED, and noticed that this patient had no past medical hx or surgery's. She had came in with the chief complain of syncope and sob, ended up being in afib, placed on heparin drip, went into HITT and had pneumonia, went into septic shock, came back, extubated, and transferred to my unit. The previous nurse didn't know why she wasn't on any Lovenox, or heparin drip since she was running constantly in afib. All it took was reading a couple consults and progress notes, and I knew the whole story of the patient and I understood why she wasn't reicieving any Lovenox, and needed clearance from neuro and cardio for a lap choly.