Question

A nurse reads a patient’s chart and does not understand the prescription. The nurse gives the patient two doses of medication every hour and causes the patient to become ill. The actual prescription calls for one dose of medication every two hours. What could the nurse have done differently to provide better patient care?

Ask a clarifying question.

Re-write the prescription.

Give the patient no medication at all.

Write a complaint about the doctor who wrote the prescription.

Answer 1

Ask a clarifying question.

If the order was unclear, the nurse should have verified the prescription with the prescribing provider or pharmacy before giving medication. Nurses must clarify ambiguous orders rather than rewrite them, withhold and verify rather than guess, and document any clarification.