Advances in technology provide practitioners many new and alternative avenues for patient care and treatment. Nurses never learn everything in nursing school, there simply isn’t enough time for one thing, and advances in care and treatment continue to evolve everyday. There are many more procedures nurses are allowed to do, but they must be adequately trained and judged competent to perform them. So how do we know what can nurses do? First off, nurses need to know and follow their state’s Nurse Practice Act which defines the nurse’s scope of practice. These vary from state to state and some are updated more frequently than others. And second, the nurse needs…
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DO NO HARM!
The March issue of ISMP Medication Safety Alert® Nurse Advise-ERR®, reminds us all to DO NO HARM! A nurse who was unfamiliar with the Type 2 diabetic injectable medication BYETTA (exenatide) withdrew the entire contents from the penlet (1.2 mL) and injected the patient with the equivalent of 60 doses. Once the prefilled pen is removed from the packaging, there are no instructions for use on the pen. However, it does clearly state “each prefilled pen will deliver 60 subcutaneous doses, 5 mcg per dose.” The label also states that there are 250 mcg/mL and the pen contains 1.2mL. It also states, “Do not transfer this medication to a syringe.”…