CWC Ch. 8 + 9

Appropriate circumstances for verbal orders

- urgent or emergency situations when it is impractical for a prescriber to interpret patient care and write the medication order

- when a prescriber is not present and direction is urgently required by an RN to provide appropriate patient care

Components of a medication order

1. patient's full name

2. date + time order written

3. name of med

4. dose

5. route

6. time and frequency (ex. daily, BID, TID, QID)

7. signature of prescriber

"Do Not Use" abbreviations

-U (unit)

-IU (international unit)

-QD (daily)

-QOD (every other day)

-Trailing zero (X.0 mg)

-Lack of leading zero (.X mg)

-MS

-MSO4 & MgSO4

Rights of Medication Administration

1. right med

2. right dose

3. right patient

4. right route

5. right time

6. right frequency

7. right site

8. right reason

9. right documentation

10. right education

11. right technique

12. right approach

13. right assessment

14. right evaluation

15. right to refuse

Medication reconciliation

a procedure to maintain an accurate and up-to-date list of medications for all patients between all phases of health care delivery; comparing meds they've been taking before admission with the meds they are going to be provided