via Wikimedia Commons
By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a new nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA. Her last (and first) post at this blog can be found here.
It seems that nursing schools across the world subscribe to certain mantras regarding the correct way to do things. Different schools teach the same things with utmost urgency. Hand washing is one of the never-ending lessons that comes to mind. How many times do nursing students wash their hands while demonstrating the correct way to perform a procedure? I vividly remember actually having to be evaluated on the skill of hand washing itself.
Another of the regularly emphasized points of nursing school is double-checking. One of my first clinical courses required students to triple-check patient identification before giving medications. We were to look at the medication administration record, the patient’s wristband, and then actually have the patient state their name.
I intend, vow, resolve to make an effort to remain aware of how easily errors can happen when we don’t double- and triple-check things. I want to always retain that astute attention to detail, bordering on wariness, so that I can practice as safely as possible, even with the advent of electronic methods.
*MARS = medication administration records
