Reference no: EM133595729

Case Study: You are the RPN working in an acute care facility. You are taking care of 5 patients on the day shift. You are working on a busy medical unit and you are a new graduate. Your manager approaches you at 1100 in the morning and tells you that there has been a serious medication error and that you are responsible for it. You are devastated because you believe that you are very careful every time you administer medications. You do feel overwhelmed a lot of the time and do not know how to ask for help. You want to fit in and be part of the unit so you don't like to ask for help.

The medication error is the following: the medication that was ordered for the patient is morphine 5-10 mg q4h PRN. You accidentally gave the patient dilaudid because it is also called hydromorphone. Fortunately the patient is okay. It was the nurse who worked the next shift who picked up the error and reported it.

Questions: Dissect this problem and think about it from a broad perspective.

1. What might have been the cause of the error - refer to CNO Medication Standards. What are the safeguards with this medication?
2. Is there any connection to this and professional misconduct? If so why, if not then why?
3. Would anything have changed the outcome for you (the RPN) in this situation?