The six rights of medication administration and patient safety

Medication Administration Entails Six Rights, Namely:

Right individual

Right medicine

Right dosage

Right route

Right time, and Right documentation (Six Rights of Medication Administration, n.d; Perry, Potter & Ostendorf, 2015).

Right Individual

For ensuring that one administers medicine to the correct person, one must firstly know the person, and remain focused on the job to avoid giving that medication to the wrong person (Six Rights of Medication Administration, n.d).

Right Medication

For ensuring that the medication is right, one should carefully read the label on the drug/medicine, and triple check it. It should be borne in mind that some of the medications possess two or more names: brand name, along with no less than one generic name (Six Rights of Medication Administration, n.d).

Right Dosage

This refers to amount of the particular medication an individual can consume at a time. For dosage determination, one must be aware of each individual medication's strength. With regard to liquid medications, medication strength in liquid measure must be known (Six Rights of Medication Administration, n.d).

Right Time

Some medications can only be taken at some specific points of time in a day, whereas for others, this time factor for medication consumption is less important (Six Rights of Medication Administration, n.d).

Question 2

Medicine instructions or prescriptions indicate the quantity and number of times in a day the particular medication needs to be taken. For some drug, calculation of correct dosage is very precise; only professionals should undertake this task. Patients should only consume the dosage specified in the instructions or prescription. Another key factor in administration of medicines is timing. There are some drugs that become effective only after they reach a certain steady level in the patient's bloodstream. Therefore, such medications must be taken at appropriate intervals for maintaining that medicine level in the body. One must be aware of medication movement within the body, in addition to its effects and likely side effects. Patients must only alter medication dosage after consulting with their physician (Krucik, 2013).

Question 3

Needle-stick injuries may be prevented through employing equipment that contain safety features, elimination of unnecessary needle usage, and sponsoring safe practices at work and education, in relation to needle handling and associated systems. Injury can be averted by planning beforehand for safe needle use and disposal; keeping sharps containers in places where children, pets, etc. can't access them; and, avoiding spillage of used needles and other sharps (while transporting) by securing them before transportation. Practices for infection prevention, general hygiene, and standard precautions need to be consistently followed for preventing injuries (How to Prevent Needle-stick and Sharps Injuries, 2012)

Question 5

Intramuscular injections get absorbed faster than subcutaneous injections as there is more blood supply to muscle tissues than to the region just under one's skin. Moreover, muscle tissue can hold a greater quantity of medication compared to subcutaneous tissue. Some medicines irritate the veins and therefore, intramuscular injections are preferable, at times, to intravenous injection. In some cases, the doctor/nurse administering the injection fails to locate an appropriate vein. Intramuscular shots can be used in place of orally administering a medication, as the human digestive system destroys some drugs upon swallowing (Krucik, 2013). The term needle 'gauge' refers to needle 'size'. That is, gauge is measured based on needle thickness. A 22 gauge needle is smaller and peds sized, while a needle of 18-gauge is mostly used for adults or people going into a surgical procedure. Clearly, from the above statement, needle size increases with decrease in gauge number. Needle Length denotes a combination of needle thickness (gauge) and length (Syringe & pen needle sizes, n.d).

Question 6

Heparin injection comes in single- and multi- dose phials of 40.000 units/mL,20.000 units/mL,10.000 units/mL, 7.500 units/mL,5.000 units/mL,1.000 units/mL, 100 units/mL, and10 units/mL (mL=milliliter). The standard recommended adult dose for thromboembolismprophylaxis is 5.000 units two hours pre-operation, followed by q8 (i.e. every 8 hours) to q12 (i.e. every 12 hours) (Pickar & Abernethy, 2014).

Dosage calculation may be completed by employing a Three-Step Approach.

Step 1 Convert

In case of heparin, there is no conversion needed. Supplied dosage and order come in the very same measurement unit (Pickar & Abernethy, 2014).

Step 2 Think

Ordered dose and supply dosage are identical, i.e.5.000 units/ml. Total vial volume is 1ml. thus, use of this vial leaves no solution remaining. Another alternative is using the 10,000 units/ml supply that comes in multi-dose vials of 10ml. However such a vial necessitates dose calculation and storage/discarding of residual medication. Therefore, the better option of the two is utilizing the 5.000 units/mL 1 mL vial (Pickar & Abernethy, 2014).

Step 3 Calculate

There is no calculation required. 1mL is obviously necessary. 5.000 units of the medication are ordered and the same quantity for 1mL is available. Thus, I will administer 1 ml from the vial (Pickar & Abernethy, 2014).