by Linda Edgeton

Nursing

A student nurse was assigned to a medical unit during her clinical rotation. She was approached by her RN team leader and instructed to give an antibiotic to one of the patients on the unit. The student nurse immediately obtained the antibiotic and administered it. However, she gave the antibiotic to the wrong patient.

When the mistake was discovered, the RN team leader refused to write an incident report, because she asserted that the patient who received the wrong medication was taking antibiotics anyway, so there was no problem. The doctor was not notified and the medication administration was not changed to reflect the error. Another dose of the antibiotic was administered to the right patient.

Questions:

Should the incident have been reported?

Was the RN team leader trying to protect the student or herself?

Should the patient who received the extra dose have been informed of the mistake?

Should the student nurse have reported the error herself?

Who pays for the antibiotic administered wrongly?