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Anyone who administers medications in a healthcare setting has heard of the term "the five rights." This is something that sometimes is overlooked by people due to other things going on around them. These outside influences can be understaffing which requires you to help out more on the floor, or emergencies that put your medication pass behind. No matter the situation, if you follow these basic rights of the patient you yourself will be protected while ensuring the patient's safety.

1. Right person. This may seem simple, but when you pass medications in a facility or hospital it can be difficult to determine who is who among patients. Usually you have around thirty-forty people when you administer medications. Some places, such as a hospital, use bracelets to identify the patient. In most nursing homes this is not the case for dignity purposes. So pictures on the Medication Administration Record (MAR) face sheets help out greatly. This is helpful because almost on a daily basis residents are admitted, discharged, or move to other rooms. Also, these pictures can help new employees identify their patient accurately.

2. Right medication. Again this seems simple, but when looking at a medication cart full of medication boxes a simple mistake could cause major injury to your patient. Not only should you check the name on the medication bottle, box or card you need to recheck it against your MAR. This is basically a three-check rule. If you do this step you are verifying again the right person and the right medication. You are looking for the name of the patient and the name of the medication.

3. Right Dose. Medication does change due to recent lab work, or recent conditions your patient may experience can happen daily and weekly. And as long as you follow what you MAR says you are administering the right medication. Do not rely on the medication label. Sometimes the pharmacy makes errors on labels and you need to verify you are giving the right dose for the accurate therapeutic level the doctor is trying to achieve for the patient.

4. Right time. The time periods may vary in other areas, but generally you need to administer the medication within one hour when it is due to one hour after it is due. (E.g. if a medication is due at 7 a.m. you can administer it as early as 6 a.m. or by 8 a.m.) State guidelines may vary on this and you need to check with your facility about these guidelines. Again this is important to help maintain therapeutic levels for the patient.

5. Right route. This is how the medication is given. It may be given as in oral form or rectal form. The route will be stated on the MAR and the medication label. There have been people who have administered ear drops as eye drops causing major discomfort and possibly injury to a patient. So again this ensures a patients safety as well as your own safety while giving out medications.

Basically if you follow these five rights you are going to be okay when giving out medications. And as hard as it might seem you need to block out everything around you, including your own personal life, in order to make sure you are providing the best care possible.

Learn more about this author, Tarra Davis.
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