Lets imagine you are working in an urgent care clinic as a staff medical assistant. Its a full moon and there is a major flu outbreak in your area. Your clinic has already seen more than 150% of its normal volume, and it’s still two hours from closing time.
Ellie James (DOB 06/26/2014) was just seen by the nurse practitioner and was prescribed a Tylenol suppository for her fever. The nurse practitioner orders a suppository to be administered in the office. As you are selecting the medication, you accidentally select the aspirin suppository because the two have similar packaging. You administer the suppository and notice as you are documenting the medication that there is an error. Describe your next steps and takeaways from the event. Beyond legal aspects of reporting, what moral aspects should be a factor in reporting culture?
For your citation, you might use articles that show examples of how healthcare facilities report medication errors. You can also find articles from experts that suggest the legal and ethical implications of reporting, especially reporting med errors from coworkers, superiors, or providers.
