Question about med administration error

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I administered 3ml IM injection of rocephin into deltoid and realized right after it should have been the thigh.. will my patient be seriously hurt and/ or am I going to lose my liscense first med error in the whole year I've been working since I became an RN freaking out

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You will feel better if you call your hospital right now. Hospitals run 24/7 so someone must be in charge. Even if it isn't some one directly in charge of your unit.

Take a deep breath and say you realize after the fact, when you got home, you made a mistake, and what happened.

3 ml is a lot to give in the deltoid. The patient may be fine, the patient may develop some mild or moderate problem at the injection site.

The board of nursing is mainly interested in drug diversion, fraud, robbery, serious crimes. The BON does not get involved with minor to moderate nursing medication errors.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

I agree you should report your error and assess the injection site for irritation, swelling, etc. I don't think your patient will suffer any life threatening effects, most likely just some discomfort but I know how scary it is to make an error. Forgive yourself and move on, we all learn from our mistakes! The fact that you are concerned for your patient shows that you are a good and conscientious nurse. And no I don't think the board will take your license!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

For future reference, you don't want to inject anything over 1 ml into the deltoid, especially not something as viscous as Rocephin. It's uncomfortable for the patient and you want a nice, large muscle for such a major injection. Don't beat yourself up about it, you've recognized that this is an incorrect way to administer this antibiotic and you won't do it again. Good luck to you.

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