What is the best description of the purpose of the five rights of drug administration?

Experts have called for the five rights to be expanded to the ten rights of medication administration.

When it comes to the safe administration of medications, you can never be too careful, especially as up to 10% of patients experience unwanted side effects or reactions, and research shows that administration errors make up 60% of all drug errors.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Experts have called for the five rights to be expanded to the ten rights of medication administration.
The 10 Rights of Medications Administration
1. Right Drug.
2. Right Patient.
3. Right Dose.
4. Right Route.
5. Right Time and Frequency.
6. Right Documentation.
7. Right History and Assessment.
8. Drug approach and Right to Refuse.
9. Right Drug-Drug Interaction and Evaluation.
10. Right Education and Information.
What is the purpose of the 5 rights of drug administration?
What are the five plus five rights of drug administration?
What is the purpose of medication administration?
Which of the following are part of the 5 rights of medication use?

The rights of medication administration are there not only to reduce the harm caused by medication errors but also to protect the interests of the patient and the nurse administering.

The 10 Rights of Medications Administration

1. Right patient

Check the name on the prescription and wristband.
Ideally, use 2 or more identifiers and ask the patient to identify themselves.

2. Right medication

Check the name of the medication, brand names should be avoided.
Check the expiry date.
Check the prescription.
Make sure medications, especially antibiotics, are reviewed regularly.

3. Right dose

Check the prescription.
Confirm the appropriateness of the dose using the BNF or local guidelines.
If necessary, calculate the dose and have another nurse calculate the dose as well.

4. Right route

Again, check the order and appropriateness of the route prescribed.
Confirm that the patient can take or receive the medication by the ordered route.

5. Right time

Check the frequency of the prescribed medication.
Double-check that you are giving the prescribed at the correct time.
Confirm when the last dose was given.

6. Right patient education

Check if the patient understands what the medication is for.
Make them aware they should contact a healthcare professional if they experience side-effects or reactions.

7. Right documentation

Ensure you have signed for the medication AFTER it has been administered.
Ensure the medication is prescribed correctly with a start and end date if appropriate.

8. Right to refuse

Ensure you have the patient consent to administer medications.
Be aware that patients do have a right to refuse medication if they have the capacity to do so.

9. Right assessment

Check your patient actually needs the medication.
Check for contraindications.
Baseline observations if required.

10. Right evaluation

Ensure the medication is working the way it should.
Ensure medications are reviewed regularly.
Ongoing observations if required.

Points 1 to 5 are the ‘5 Rights of Medication Administration. Points 6-10 are unratified checks that have been suggested by multiple US nursing boards and research panels to enhance patient safety.

Understanding the 10 Rights of Drug Administration can help prevent many medication errors. Nurses, who are primarily involved in the administration of medications, benefit from this simplified memory aid to help guide them to administer medications safely.

Nurses are responsible for ensuring safe and quality patient care at all times. As many nursing tasks involve a degree of risk, medication administration arguably carries the greatest risk. Research on medical administration errors (MAEs) showed that there is a 60% error rate mainly in the form of wrong time, rate, or dose. Some medication errors cause permanent disability and for others the errors are fatal. Follow these 10 rights of drug administration to ensure safe patient care.

10 Rights of Drug Administration Infographic

1. Right Drug.

The first right of drug administration is to check and verify if it’s the right name and form. Beware of look-alike and sound-alike medication names. Misreading medication names that look similar is a common mistake. These look-alike medication names may also sound alike and can lead to errors associated with verbal prescriptions. Check out The Joint Commission’s list of look-alike/sound-alike drugs.

2. Right Patient.

Ask the name of the client and check his/her ID band before giving the medication. Even if you know that patient’s name, you still need to ask just to verify.

3. Right Dose.

Check the medication sheet and the doctor’s order before medicating. Be aware of the difference between an adult and a pediatric dose.

4. Right Route.

Check the order if it’s oral, IV, SQ, IM, etc..

5. Right Time and Frequency.

Check the order for when it would be given and when was the last time it was given.

6. Right Documentation.

Make sure to write the time and any remarks on the chart correctly.

7. Right History and Assessment.

Secure a copy of the client’s history to drug interactions and allergies.

8. Drug approach and Right to Refuse.

Give the client enough autonomy to refuse the medication after thoroughly explaining the effects.

9. Right Drug-Drug Interaction and Evaluation.

Review any medications previously given or the diet of the patient that can yield a bad interaction to the drug to be given. Check also the expiry date of the medication being given.

10. Right Education and Information.

Provide enough knowledge to the patient of what drug he/she would be taking and what are the expected therapeutic and side effects.

Matt Vera is a registered nurse with a bachelor of science in nursing since 2009 and is currently working as a full-time writer and editor for Nurseslabs. During his time as a student, he knows how frustrating it is to cram on difficult nursing topics. Finding help online is nearly impossible. His situation drove his passion for helping student nurses by creating content and lectures that are easy to digest. Knowing how valuable nurses are in delivering quality healthcare but limited in number, he wants to educate and inspire nursing students. As a nurse educator since 2010, his goal in Nurseslabs is to simplify the learning process, break down complicated topics, help motivate learners, and look for unique ways of assisting students in mastering core nursing concepts effectively.

What is the purpose of the 5 rights of drug administration?

To help reduce the risk of medication errors, nurses are taught the “Five Rights of Medication Administration.” Also known as the "5Rs”, these principles help to ensure the right drug, right dose, right route, and right patient, at the right time.

What are the five plus five rights of drug administration?

This includes the traditional: right patient, right medication, right dose, right route and right time. However, the additional five are stressed as equally important: right assessment, right to refuse, right teaching, right evaluation and right documentation.