The "Rights" Stuff
These are the two identifiers required to verify the Right Patient.
Name and date of birth
This is the number of milligrams found in exactly 1 gram.
1,000 mg
These drug names are lowercase and serve as the official name of the medication.
Generic Names
This technology involves scanning a patient's wristband and a drug's barcode to ensure safety.
Barcode Administration (BCMA)
Because these patients have magnified effects from small dosing errors, weight-based calculations are critical.
Pediatric patients
To ensure the Right Drug, the nurse must compare the label to the order this many times.
Three times (removal, preparation, and administration)
To convert a patient’s weight from pounds to kilograms, you must divide by this number.
2.2
This common medical abbreviation indicates a medication should be given by mouth.
PO
This distribution system uses prepackaged single doses to reduce calculation errors.
Unit Dose System
This is the first step in the clinical judgment cycle, where a nurse identifies relevant patient data.
Recognize Cues
For most medications, the Right Time means administering within this many minutes of the schedule.
30 minutes
Perform this conversion: 0.25 mg is equal to how many micrograms (mcg)?
250 mcg
These two abbreviations indicate whether a drug should be given before meals or after meals.
AC (before) and PC (after)
These are the three broad categories of factors that contribute to medication errors.
Provider factors, Patient factors, and System failures
This population often experiences polypharmacy and unpredictable drug responses due to altered metabolism.
Older adults
A nurse must never substitute this "Right" (e.g., PO vs IV) without physician approval.
The Right Route
A patient weighs 154 lbs and the ordered dose is 5 mg/kg. What is the total dose in mg?
350 mg (154 ÷ 2.2 = 70 kg; 70 kg × 5 mg/kg = 350 mg)
This specific component of a medication label identifies the amount of active drug per unit (e.g., mg/tablet).
Dosage Strength
This legal document tracks the complete medication process from the initial order to the outcome.
Medication Administration Record (MAR)
During this phase of clinical judgment, the nurse determines the most critical interventions and safety measures.
Prioritize Actions
Safety protocols for high-risk medications require the dose to be verified by this person.
Another healthcare provider
Using the Fahrenheit to Celsius formula, a fever of 101°F converts to this temperature in Celsius.
38.3°C
This process is required for powdered medications and must follow diluent specifications exactly.
Reconstitution
During the assessment phase, the nurse should specifically check laboratory values for these two organ functions.
Kidney and liver function
This term describes drug names that frequently cause confusion because they look or sound similar.
Look-alike, sound-alike drug names