If a nurse gives you medication to take while you are in an Illinois hospital, you can expect that he or she has taken certain measures of precaution beforehand. In the medical industry, there are safety networks in place to help doctors and nurses avoid medication errors. Sadly, not every nurse does the job right. In fact, incidents of medical malpractice often involve negligence, which resulted in medication errors, which resulted in severe injuries to patients.
There is a system of accepted safety standards in medicine that doctors and nurses refer to as “The 5 R’s.” Five different words that follow the word “right” describe tasks that a nurse should complete before administering medication to a patient. If a nurse fails to carry out the five R’s, a medication error might occur.
What are the 5 R’s?
The following list includes five words that follow the word “right,” which help to remind nurses how to keep you safe if they are about to give you medication:
- Right patient
- Right drug
- Right time
- Right dosage
- Right route
If a nurse does not confirm such issues before giving you medication, the results may be disastrous. Some hospitals use additional R phrases, although the ones mentioned in the previous section provide a basic overview of the system that enables a nurse to avoid making a mistake if he or she is giving you medication.
One mistake can be lethal
If a nurse doesn’t check to make sure that you are the correct patient to receive a specific medication, you might wind up taking a drug intended for someone else. In certain circumstances, this type of error can be fatal. Even if your nurse has confirmed that you are the right person, one must check the other issues as well, because giving the wrong dose or the wrong drug may cause severe illness or death.
It’s not your responsibility to make sure a nurse is fulfilling his or her duty to ensure your safety when administering a medication in a hospital setting. The nurse should initiate all of the safety precautions.
What if medical malpractice occurs?
If you suffer injury because of a medication error that was preventable and occurred only because of a nurse’s negligence, the nurse can be held accountable for his or her behavior. Additional parties, such as the administrators or doctors at the same Illinois hospital, might also be liable in certain circumstances.
It is tragic that so many families have lost loved ones because of nursing negligence regarding medication errors. If you survive a medical malpractice injury, you are entitled to seek justice.
