ISMP Safe Medication Principles 4

Question 1

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:

Accepted Answer

Clarify the discrepancy with the prescriber before administering

Answer

ISMP medication reconciliation principles require all discrepancies between home and ordered medications to be clarified with the prescriber before administration.

Question 2

Which environmental factor does ISMP identify as contributing most to medication administration errors?

Accepted Answer

Interruptions and distractions during the medication preparation and administration process

Answer

Interruptions during medication preparation are among the most consistently identified contributors to administration errors in ISMP research.

Question 3

ISMP advises against using error-prone abbreviations. Which of the following is on the ISMP 'Do Not Use' list?

Accepted Answer

U (units)

Answer

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.

Question 4

What is the primary safety benefit of smart infusion pumps with dose-error reduction software (DERS)?

Accepted Answer

They alert clinicians when programmed doses fall outside evidence-based limits in the drug library

Answer

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.

Question 5

An error involving a 10-fold overdose of a liquid medication in a pediatric patient is most commonly linked to which prescribing hazard?

Accepted Answer

Weight-based dosing calculated in pounds instead of kilograms

Answer

ISMP highlights the pounds-versus-kilograms error as a leading cause of 10-fold overdoses in pediatric patients because 1 kg ≈ 2.2 lb.

ISMP - Institute for Safe Medication Practices Practice Test

ISMP - Institute for Safe Medication Practices Practice Test

ISMP Safe Medication Principles 4