Role Of The Six Rights Of Medication Administration

Preventing Medication Errors with the Six Rights of Medication Administration

Medication errors are among the most common mistakes made in the health care industry. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) defines a medication error as "any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. The magnitude of medication administered contributes to the risk of medication errors. These errors have a vast financial and human impact on the U.S. healthcare system. Medication errors lead to more than 7,000 deaths annually in the United States, as well as an increase

Preparing and administering medications accurately is a vital part of a nurse’s job. Medication errors can happen anywhere along the medication administration process. They can occur in prescribing, documenting, transcribing, dispensing and administering. Nurses must always be alert and double check themselves, healthcare providers, pharmacists, and others in the chain of medication administration to ensure medication is properly administered. The execution of the six rights of medication administration is critical in ensuring accurate medication administration. The six rights of medication administration include – right patient, right medication, right dosage, right route, right time and right

Inaccurate documentation has led to many medication errors. Properly documenting the time, dosage and route serves as proof of what the patient received in case of a bad reaction. Immediately after administering the medication the MAR should be updated to include the name of the ordered medication, the time the drug was given and the medications dosage and route. If the medication was not administered the MAR should reflect this along with the reason the medication was not administered. The “Rights of Medication Administration” are vital steps used to increase accuracy when administering medication to a patient. Even when following these steps, medication errors still happen. You cannot be cautious enough. As a nurse administering medication will be one of the most routine duties of my day. I strive to always remember that however tedious it can get it is vital that all six of the Rights of Medication Administration are systematically and conscientiously checked every time I administer