Mario's Routes & Rights
This route of administration is the most common, but its bioavailability is always less than 100%.
What is the oral (PO) route?
This organ serves as the primary site for drug metabolism in the body.
What is the liver?
A medication that binds to a receptor and blocks receptor activation to prevent a response is called this.
What is an antagonist?
According to research, this type of error is the most common cause of morbidity and preventable death in hospital settings.
What are medication errors?
Unlike brand names, a medication has only one official, non-proprietary name, which is typically lowercased and less expensive.
What is the Generic Name?
A complete medication order must include these crucial elements; without them (like missing frequency or route), the order is incomplete.
What are medication name, dose, route, frequency, patient name, and parameters?
Because this administration route bypasses all barriers and enters directly into systemic circulation, its bioavailability is 100%.
What is the Intravenous (IV) route?
Fentanyl acts as this type of agent because it binds to and activates receptors to produce pain relief and sedation.
What is an agonist?
Heparin, Insulin, and Narcotics fall under this classification because an error in their administration carries a significantly elevated risk of harm.
What are High-Alert Medications?
Medications under Pregnancy Risk Categories D and X carry a major risk for causing this in a developing fetus.
What is fetal malformation (or teratogenic effects)?
When administering transdermal or subcutaneous medications, the nurse must do this to prevent tissue damage such as lipohypertrophy.
What is rotating injection/application sites?
This process occurs when oral medications are absorbed through the GI tract and enter the liver, where enzymes partially inactivate the drug before it reaches circulation.
What is the First-Pass Effect?
Medications with this type of Therapeutic Index (TI) have a narrow safety margin and require routine blood level monitoring.
What is a Low (or Narrow) Therapeutic Index?
This process of creating an accurate, up-to-date list of a patient's medications must be performed at admission, transfer, and discharge.
What is Medication Reconciliation (Med Recon)?
A decrease in a drug's effect following repeated administration over time is known as this.
What is tolerance?
In California, this body of law mandates the Board of Registered Nursing to set out the scope of practice and responsibilities for RNs.
What is the Nursing Practice Act (NPA)?
When a patient has renal or hepatic impairment, the medication’s elimination half-life will do this, increasing the risk for drug accumulation and toxicity.
What is increased half-life (or lengthen/prolong)?
To obtain this type of blood level, the nurse must draw a blood sample immediately before administering the next scheduled medication dose.
What is a Trough level?
This first-line medication is administered IM or IV every 5 to 15 minutes during a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction to constrict blood vessels and promote bronchodilation.
What is Epinephrine?
Older adults are at increased risk for drug accumulation and toxicity primarily due to an age-related decline in these two organ functions.
What are hepatic (liver) and renal (kidney) function?
This key right of medication administration requires the nurse to collect vital signs and pertinent lab values before giving a drug.
What is the Right Assessment?
These two laboratory values are monitored as the primary indicators of kidney excretion function.
What are Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) and Creatinine?
This term describes a initial higher dose of a drug given to reach a therapeutic steady state more rapidly.
What is a Loading Dose?
A patient taking a hepatotoxic drug should be monitored for these clinical signs of liver dysfunction.
What are jaundice, dark urine, nausea/vomiting, abdominal discomfort, or anorexia?
If a nurse holds a medication because vital signs are outside the provider's parameters, the nurse must immediately complete these two actions.
What are notifying the provider (MD) and documenting the reason the med was held?