Answer :
The correct answer is:
c. The right: resident, drug, dose, time, route, and documentation.
Explanation:
1. Resident: Refers to ensuring that the medication is given to the correct individual, matching the medication with the right resident.
2. Drug: Indicates verifying the medication itself, ensuring it is the correct drug prescribed for the resident.
3. Dose: Involves confirming the appropriate dosage of the medication to be administered to the resident.
4. Time: Denotes administering the medication at the correct time according to the prescribed schedule.
5. Route: Involves administering the medication through the correct route, such as orally, topically, or intravenously.
6. Documentation: Refers to accurately recording the administration of the medication, including details like the drug name, dosage, time given, and any specific notes related to the administration.
c. The right: resident, drug, dose, time, route, and documentation.
Explanation:
1. Resident: Refers to ensuring that the medication is given to the correct individual, matching the medication with the right resident.
2. Drug: Indicates verifying the medication itself, ensuring it is the correct drug prescribed for the resident.
3. Dose: Involves confirming the appropriate dosage of the medication to be administered to the resident.
4. Time: Denotes administering the medication at the correct time according to the prescribed schedule.
5. Route: Involves administering the medication through the correct route, such as orally, topically, or intravenously.
6. Documentation: Refers to accurately recording the administration of the medication, including details like the drug name, dosage, time given, and any specific notes related to the administration.
Answer:
Option C, The right: resident, drug, dose, time, route, and documentation
Explanation:
The most obvious is the right resident. Healthcare workers (HCWs) administering medications must know and ensure they are giving the correct person their prescribed medication. Giving the wrong patient another resident's medication would constitute a medication error.
Next is the right drug. HCWs, specifically nurses, can and are the last checkpoint between the patient and the medication. As such, they must ensure that the medication they are about to administer is appropriate for the resident's ailment. For example, giving a medication aimed at lowering blood pressure to a patient who is already hypotensive is a recipe for disaster.
After this is the right dose. The goal of medication administration is to find an effective and therapeutic amount that is also safe for the patient. Because we are all unique, there are multiple dosage amounts because one dosage strength does not fit all. Therefore, the HCW must check and recheck that they have the correct dose of the correct medication as written by the provider's orders for the correct patient. Also, administering too much of some medications can be dangerous. For example, therapeutic levels of patients taking lithium is rather narrow at 0.8 to 1.2 mEq/L. If the patient maintains being within this range with 300 mg of lithium, administering 600 mg instead could cause toxicity and lead to changes in mentation or neurological dysfunction. The goal here is to avoid dangerous quantities of medication.
Fourth is the right time. Many medications need to be administered at specific times. For example, some are given at night because they cause drowsiness. Other medications must be administered alone and have to be spaced out from one another. Like with the lithium, some medications must be administered on their schedule to avoid toxicity. For example, certain opioids can be scheduled for every 4 hours in order to avoid central nervous system and respiratory depression. HCWs can mitigate avoidable complications by ensuring it is the right time to give a resident their medication.
Coming up next is the right route. It is typically for physiological purposes that the route should be checked. If a patient is having difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) or is vomiting, it makes no sense for them to take medications by mouth. If the patient requires insulin, this cannot be absorbed by putting the liquid under their tongue. Verification of the correct route ensures the medication can be properly absorbed to enact its mechanism of action.
Lastly, right documentation. Care not documented is care not done. Correct documentation of the medication administration mitigates the likelihood that the medication will be administered again by an HCW (including the person that initially administered it) that believed it was not administered in the first place. Right documentation can also encapsulate that the correct provider has written orders for the administration, complete with the above five rights.
Option C correctly lists the six rights.
Why Not Other Choices:
Option A includes right response, and though some amendments to the rights of medication administration have this as one of the tenets, the right response and the promptness of said response may also be dictated by the route. Therefore, verifying the right route may be more important. Though it is arguable to include right response -- HCWs must know if the medication administered was effective in order to properly care plan.
Option B includes both medication and drug which are the same thing in the rights of medication administration.
Option D includes the generic name which can be part of right medication but knowing brand name and generic name may be best when relaying it to the patient. It also includes strength and quantity, both of which are dictated by having the right dose of medication. Finally, method and technique are determined by the right route. If the prescription is IV, the HCW knows to alcohol wipe the IV port, flush with 5-10 mL of normal saline, administer the medication as a liquid solution via a syringe, and flush with 5-10 mL of normal saline.
