who is responsible

[nurseforfun]

who is responsible :physician orders medication, nurse gives medication, then checks chart, pt is allergic to drug,,, nurse? physician? pharmacist?

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Everyone. The ultimate responsibility, like so many things, will fall on the nurse, though, because the nurse gave the drug with a documented allergy in the chart. I have it easy, working with babies, because in over 2 years I've never had a pt with a drug allergy, but we're the final bulwark against errors.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

All of them.

[RN1982]

Well, like it was said before the responsibility would fall on the nurse. The nurse should be checking the patient's drug allergies BEFORE they administer medications not after.

[misslisa]

I would say the nurse too. I'm sure the physician would get some heat too, but nurse should have checked pt allergies.

[NurseKatie08, MSN]

Everyone: The doc for writing the order, the pharmacist for not picking up on it, and the nurse for administering the drug when the pt has a known allergy to it. Of course, the nurse is the final checkpoint, which is why we have to be so careful & always check.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

We have to be careful...look for documented allergies before we administer medications, or there is no excuse (not that I don't understand on a personal level, but a court of law would have a field day with us). It could have been that a previous nurse did not do a complete assessment, either. We are told in our clinic that the moment we know of any allergies to document them immediately, because many times, the residents forget to ask, or the patient doesn't quite understand what an allergy actually is.

[nurseforfun]

I Asked The Question Earlier, Who Is Responsible... Pysician Ordered New Medication For Pt, Nurse Gave Medication, Then Looked For Allergies... Who Is Responsible ? Dr., Nurse, Pharmacist, Or All Three... I Am Looking For Documentation That States Who Is Responsible???

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

I've made it routine to always verbally verify allergies with patients at the beginning of the shift and to document that I have done so with my first assessment; for some reason it sticks better in my head if I hear it from the patient than if I just read it on the chart/MAR. Plus I've caught several unlisted allergies this way. Ultimately it falls on us, although it is a system failure, we're the last stop in that system.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Threads merged for continuity.

[BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

The nurse is responsible. Never, never, never give any med without first checking allergies. This is nursing 101 folks and will save your butt!

[RN1982]

Let me put it this way. If you get hauled into court because the patient died as a result of you giving a medication that the patient was allergic to, you would be in deep do-do. It doesn't matter if the doc ordered it or pharmacy sent it. It's your clinical judgement, your clinical judgement should tell you that if the patient is allergic to a prescribed med then you should be calling the doctor to let them know that and you should NOT be giving the med. And if the doc insists on you giving it, then I would refuse to give it. It's your license not the doc's. It shouldn't be too hard to check allergies because they are listed right on the MAR.