According to The Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2004) “the failure of planned action is completed as intended (error of execution) or the use of a wrong plan or achieve an aim (error of planning). An error may be an act of commission or an act of omission.” In the medical platform, errors occur on many occasions for medical staffs. However, as an American writer, Nikki Giovanni once said: "Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.” In this case, the response to a medical mistake is critical not only to an individual nurse and patient, but also the medical facility where the medical staff work. In this case, there are ethical and legal matters which link t closure and nondisclosure in the medical field.
In the legal field, the prescribers face civil actions, criminal allegation, and medical board discipline when he or she makes a medical error during his or her prescription. It is because of such legal implication which can create a situation where the medical officers may face a dilemma on whether to disclose or not disclose any information to the patient after making a prescription mistake. In the United States, Nurse practitioners laws governing closure and nondisclosure of medical errors are different by states. For instance, the states of Maryland has specific codes of laws which direct a doctor or medical staffs on how to handle any matter regarding wrong medication. The states of Maryland laws demand that the appointed nurse practitioners (NP) participate in the hospital Patient Safety Program and report adverse events of which they have awareness. The laws in this state further demand that “quality assurance and other medical review committees share information and take any appropriate action concerning near-misses and adverse events (“ QuPS.org - Medical Errors and Patient Safety - Maryland - Physician Participation,” 2019). It is paramount for a nurse to understand such laws to help him or her with decisions when facing a prescription dilemma. Further, ethics demands that a nurse protect a nurse and do no harm to them. In this sense, it means that when faced with disclosure dilemma, they need to act in a manner that should not hart the patient (Bates & Slgiht, 2014).
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In this case, the nurse needs to disclose the information to the patient. A nurse vows to protect a patient. Further, the role of a nurse treating patients and lengthening their lives by giving them the best care they can offer within their capacity. A failure to disclose their information concerning the wrong diagnosis or prescription implies that a nurse fails on his or her role to protect the patient. Ethically, a failure to disclose a wrong medication is incorrect because such an action can hurt the patient ( Ghazal, Saleem & Amlani, 2014). Legally, the same action is illegal because the nurse needs to reduce any chances of harming the patient within the scope of their work. A failure to disclose the information of a wrong medication means that a nurse shall act against Ethical and legal implications that are associated with authoritative errors such as the malpractice, cost, mistrust, jeopardized professional relationships. It is an implication that such an act will harm not only the patient but the facility, the nurse, and the patient's family.
During prescription, a nurse needs to understand the current patient regimen, medical history, and allergies. A proper prescription must include the following, date; name, date of birth, and address. Further, it needs to include a nurse name and phone number. Also, the name of the drug, and route of administration; allowable substitutions or refills should be used (Arcangelo & Peterson, 2013). However, to write a prescription calls for understanding safety measures to minimize medical mistakes. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners , a nurse need to use the identifiers for the right patient, right drug, right dosage, right time, and right route to minimize prescription mistakes.
References
Anderson, P., (2013). Medication errors: Don't let them happen to you. American Nurse Today , 8 (6), 23–28. Retrieved from https://americannursetoday.com/medication-errors-dont-let-them-happen-to-you-2/
Bates, D. W., & Slgiht, S. P., (2014). Medication errors: What is their impact?
Ghazal, L., Saleem, Z., & Amlani, G. (2014). A medical error: To disclose or not to disclose. Journal of Clinical Research and Bioethics, 5 (2), 1-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-9627.1000174
Mayo Clinic, Proc. 89 (8), 1027-1029. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2014.06.014.
QuPS.org - Medical Errors and Patient Safety - Maryland - Physician Participation. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.qups.org/med_errors.php?c=individual_state&s=21&t=6
