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Review Question - QID 106590

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QID 106590 (Type "106590" in App Search)
A 43-year-old male is admitted to the hospital for a left leg cellulitis. He is being treated with clindamycin and is recovering nicely. On the second day of his admission, a nurse incorrectly administers 100 mg of metoprolol which was intended for another patient with the same last name. The error is not discovered until the next day, at which time it is clear that the patient has suffered no ill effects of the medication and is not aware that an error has occurred. What is the proper course of action of the attending physician?

Immediately disclose the error to the patient

75%

47/63

Notify hospital administration but do not notify the patient as no ill effects occurred

2%

1/63

Do not disclose the error to the patient as no ill effects occurred

0%

0/63

Tell the nurse who administered the drug to notify the patient an error has occurred

6%

4/63

Make a note in the patient's chart an error has occurred but do not disclose the error to the patient

6%

4/63

Select Answer to see Preferred Response

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All medical errors must be disclosed to the patient regardless of severity.

Medical errors are an unfortunate reality in any healthcare setting. While practitioners and health care systems attempt to avoid errors at all costs, practitioners should be aware of how to deal with errors should they arise. In the event of an error, the patient should be notified by the attending physician as early as possible. The physician should inform the patient what happened, what the consequences are, why it happened, and if possible, what is being done to remedy the error. Patients should always be informed of errors, even if no adverse effects occurred.

Miller reviews the family physician's role in reducing medical errors. He states there are number of potential medical errors ranging from a simple miscommunication about a drug's name during a telephone call between a doctor and a nurse to the erroneous programming of a complex medical device. He finds that the best way to reduce error is to create a "no fault" environment in which one individual is not blamed, but rather focusing on the "systems" which facilitated or led to the error and systematic prevention.

Jenkins and Vaida review strategies for avoiding medication errors, a common error type in the healthcare setting. They state that strategies such as using patient-specific identifiers, verifying allergies and reactions, updating current medications, and identifying high alert medications can significantly reduce these errors.

Incorrect Answers:
Answer 2: While the hospital administration should potentially be informed (depending on specific hospital policies), the patient must also be informed.
Answer 3: The patient must be informed of the error.
Answer 4: It is inappropriate to have non-supervising medical staff deliver the news of an error. The attending physician is ultimately responsible for the patient's care (and any errors that occur during it) and should deliver the news to the patient, even if the attending is not directly responsible for the error.
Answer 5: While a note should be made in the patient's chart, the patient should also be informed of the error.

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