Quote Originally Posted by elnutsmalljaws View Post
I will say that I have been double dosed now 3 times during my hospital stay. This last time was the first at UK and the previous 2 times I was given 8 mgrams of dalaudid and 50 mg of phenogren TWICE at St. Joe. All 3 were honest mistakes but I have learned that EVERY time a nurse comes in to give me something, I ask what and how much. I did not learn this until last Wednesday but will from now on. I know that on 1 occasion in the ER a nurse was about to give me Morphine and I am allergic to that drug and it was duely noted on my file but the doctor did not notice it and prescribed it. Luckily I asked what she was giving me before and it was caught. I can only imagin how many times a day patients are given the wrong amount or the wrong drug in hospitals. It should not happen and there should be checks and balances in place to stop this but evidently there are not enough. Maybe when I get better and can go back to work I will apply for this job at the local hospital here in Frankfort.
Speaking from an RNs point of view, it happens all the time (unfortunately). Our facility has many check points in place to prevent this, however, humans are still in charge...and humans aren't perfect. I make it a practice to state every medication I am giving to a patient just for that reason....if for any reason (patients or us) I am about to administer a drug that the patient is allergic to, by telling them what I am giving them....it will be caught. Like I said, nothing in this world is perfect, mistakes will happen. You just hope that when those mistakens do occur, that they are not life threatening.

Hope you get feeling better, and our prayers are with you.

Fish on!

-Rich