A New Mexico patient who is given the wrong medication or the wrong dosage could suffer serious harm or even death. By using what is often known as the five rights of medication administration, hospital staff members can help improve med safety and prevent patient harm.
Part of med safety is to make sure that there are acceptable patient identifiers that indicate that health care staff have the right patient. These identifiers may include the patient’s name, assigned identification number or the patient’s date of birth. Once the correct patient has been identified, hospital staff must ensure that the drug that is being administered matches the drug on the patient’s records. This is particularly important for drugs that have similar sounding names as a mix-up could cause serious harm to the patient.
Once the right medication has been identified, health care staff must verify the correct medication dosage and the correct method of administration. Doses that are too high or too low could potentially cause harm to the patient as can an incorrect route of administration. Finally, staff members must ensure that the medication is being given at the right times to prevent an overdose.
Patients who have been given the wrong medication, the wrong dose or the wrong combination of drugs could suffer complications that could gave an impact on their health or even result in their death. If medication errors resulted in harm, the patient or the patient’s family members may want to speak with an attorney to discuss the filing of a medical malpractice lawsuit against the responsible health care practitioners or facility seeking damages for the losses that have been sustained.
