Safe Medication Principles Flashcards
7 cards from real ISMP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Safe Medication Principles flashcards as text
A patient's home medication list includes 'metformin 500mg twice daily.' During admission, the prescriber orders 'metformin 500mg daily.' Per ISMP guidance, the nurse should:
Answer: Clarify the discrepancy with the prescriber before administering
ISMP medication reconciliation principles require all discrepancies between home and ordered medications to be clarified with the prescriber before administration.
Which environmental factor does ISMP identify as contributing most to medication administration errors?
Answer: Interruptions and distractions during the medication preparation and administration process
Interruptions during medication preparation are among the most consistently identified contributors to administration errors in ISMP research.
ISMP advises against using error-prone abbreviations. Which of the following is on the ISMP 'Do Not Use' list?
Answer: U (units)
The abbreviation 'U' for units is on the ISMP Do Not Use list because it can be misread as '0,' '4,' or 'cc,' causing dose errors.
What is the primary safety benefit of smart infusion pumps with dose-error reduction software (DERS)?
Answer: They alert clinicians when programmed doses fall outside evidence-based limits in the drug library
DERS compares entered doses against pre-set soft and hard limits in the drug library, alerting the clinician to potentially harmful dose entries before infusion begins.
An error involving a 10-fold overdose of a liquid medication in a pediatric patient is most commonly linked to which prescribing hazard?
Answer: Weight-based dosing calculated in pounds instead of kilograms
ISMP highlights the pounds-versus-kilograms error as a leading cause of 10-fold overdoses in pediatric patients because 1 kg ≈ 2.2 lb.
Which of the following best describes ISMP's 'culture of safety' in the context of medication errors?
Answer: An environment where staff feel safe reporting errors and near-misses without fear of punishment
A just culture of safety encourages transparent reporting by distinguishing between human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless conduct rather than reflexively blaming individuals.
ISMP recommends that automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) overrides be reserved for:
Answer: Urgent clinical situations where the delay of pharmacy review would harm the patient
ADC overrides bypass pharmacist review and should occur only in genuine clinical emergencies; routine override use eliminates a critical safety check.