Nurses in Pennsylvania and beyond go to school for a long time to obtain their licenses to practice nursing. While they may have a certain amount of field experience during training, real life situations often involve unexpected issues that can prove quite challenging to deal with. One issue that nurses face on a daily basis that can be complicated at times is administering medication to their patients. If a patient later claims that a nurse was negligent, it could lead to medical licensing problems for him or her.
To avoid medication errors, nurses typically practice a rule of thumb that includes numerous “rights.” While the list may slightly vary, the main rights are always the same. The first thing a nurse must do before giving someone medication is make sure he or she is giving it to the correct patient. The nurse must also confirm that the proper medication is being administered, as well as the right dose. A nurse is also tasked to make sure the medication is being given at the right time by the right route (meaning injection, oral, etc.), and finally, that proper documentation of the medication administration takes place.
Nurses are taught never to administer medication without systematically checking their procedure against the list of rights. It does not matter if a patient has been taking a particular medication for an extended period of time. If the nurse is providing it, he or she must take the time to check off each of the rights.
If a Pennsylvania medical licensing board calls a nurse’s license into question because of alleged medication negligence or other workplace behavior that has reportedly caused someone injury, the nurse can defend his or her license. This is often easier said than done, however, especially if going it alone before the board. Chances of a positive outcome may be greater if the support of an experienced medical license attorney is enlisted.