legal brief: medication

Legal Brief: Medication Administration & The Patient’s Family

legal brief: medication

The importance of monitoring medication administration in an in-patient facility is paramount

All healthcare providers and administrators in an in-patient setting should be taking the added precaution of educating the patients’ families and caregivers about the prescribed regimens. Incorrect dispensing of medication at incorrect times is a rampant problem and one that might be lessened the more that family members are informed (assuming that visits are occurring routinely). 

The family’s involvement does not in any way replace the need for staff members to be scrutinous, and there must be an oversight by the prescribing physician or nurse manager who would be responsible for confirming that patients’ charts reflect the correct medication delivery at each turn. 

Staff should also be operating under the knowledge that there is somebody reviewing their medication administration, not necessarily as a backup to their responsibilities but as a means of reinforcing that discipline would follow any mistakes made. Patients need advocacy and accountability.