The federal and states law for advanced practice nurses provide a basis for the legal implication of disclosure and nondisclosure of the error made while prescribing the drug to the patient. The federal law states that "injuries to patients can come from an intended action following the APN or from unintended, accidental actions "(Kjervik & Brous, 2010) . Therefore, the disclosure of the error would describe the situation as unintended, and the legal implication on a personal level would be an unintended action. The legal implication to the health clinic would be validity and accountability for the services in provision. Such is because the prescription was not intentional but accidental. Such a situation, when reported can be dealt with as inadequate informed consent per the federal and states for advanced practice nurses as it can lead to negligence towards an APN. The law states that "even when there exists a strong case of malpractices among nurse's prescription of drugs to patients, the case will be in dismissal if the state of the statue supersedes the limitations." Thus as a nurse, it is within one's mandate to disclose the case.
On the other hand, if the qualification of expertise as a nurse does not meet the requirements of the nurse's board, then the nurse should not disclose the error. Such is because the federal and states law states that "the expert witness is the APN and there is need to testify to the scenarios that they witnessed directly (Kjervik & Brous, 2010) ." Therefore, the legal implication on a personal level will be confiscation of own nursing license, and to the health clinic, the legal effect would be closure if the error is treated as an intended action and the witness who is the patient is in a position to testify in accordance to the law.
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As an advanced practice nurse, I would report the error. Such is because nurses who are registered are held accountable for their actions and any omissions or wrong prescription of drugs to patients calls for full responsibility for the errors made. Therefore, as a nurse, I would disclose the error so that changes can be made to secure the life of the patients. As they always say humans are prone to, and a wrong prescription was not intended (Copping, 2010). Whether the patient realizes the error made on the medicine or not disclosing the error is the best step to take. The fact that we are humans would be put into consideration. Individuals make mistakes, and that does not exclude health professions as they are humans as well and they are at high risk of poor concentration and may miss a vital element in drug prescription. However, in the case of health care, the reparations are, and such a scenario of errors in drug prescription should be disclosed as early as possible. Deciding not disclosing the mistake is not following the ethical considerations in nursing. Equally, the bill of right for patients gives them the mandate to access full disclosure of an error (Ladd and Hoyt, 2016). Such exposure enhances the trust of patients towards nurses and provides them with an assurance that the information they are receiving concerning their overall care is complete and accurate.
When prescribing to a patient as a nurse consider the following process: start by writing the name and address of the prescriber who is the nurse with the telephone number is possible. Then include the date of the prescription to check on the time limit validity. Include the name and strength of the medication to regulate the amount to be consumed and the appropriate time (Arcangelo, Peterson, Wilbur, and Reinhold, 2017). The other process is the legal obligation to write clearly to reduce cases of misread information leading to a wrong prescription. The dosage of the prescribed drug starting from the right form of dosage and the total amount should be clear. Then the next process is to label the instructions and the warnings that are in association with the drug. Include the name, address, and age of the patient as the other process for convenience purposes and finish the process with a signature or the initials of the nurse. One of the strategies in avoiding medical errors made by nurses is through improvement of the skills of dosage calculation through the education of nurses. Training prepares nurses for their clinical obligations later. The capabilities include mathematical manipulation such as fractions, decimals, and percentages (Athanasakis, 2012). The establishment of various clinical protocols in the nursing practice will help the nurses to meet the right dosage calculation. Another strategy is through the mouth to mouth orders and matters to do with interdisciplinary collaboration. Medications from a doctor to a nurse that are made orally possess some hidden risks. Noise in the environment, poor connectivity in the case of a mobile phone in use and rapid modes of speaking own a challenge in communication (Athanasakis, 2012). Therefore, to avoid such situations that may lead to wrong drug prescription, it is vital to write down the medicine and then make a confirmation of the name of the patient, the dosage needed and the reason for the order for purposes of accuracy.
References
Arcangelo, V. P., Peterson, A. M., Wilbur, V., & Reinhold, J. A. (Eds.). (2017). Pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice: A practical approach (4th ed.). Ambler, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Athanasakis, E. (2012). Prevention of Medication Errors Made by Nurses in Clinical Practices. Journal of Health Science, Vol. 6 , No 4. Pp. 774-783.
Copping, C. (2010). Preventing and Reporting Drug Administration Error. Journal of Nurse Educator, Vol. 101, No 33. Pp. 32.
Kjervik, D., & Brous, E. (2010). Law and ethics for advanced practice nursing . New York: Springer.
Ladd, E., & Hoyt, A. (2016). Shedding Light on Nurse Practitioner Prescribing. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Vol. 12, No 3. Pp. 166-173.
