Administering medication to patients should be done carefully and must be in the specifications of the physician’s order. Improper administration of medication can cause harm to patients. The accusation of such negligence is common in nursing care. You just need a nurse attorney before dealing with accusation cases.
At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an RN with a healthcare services provider in Denton, Texas, and had been in that position for five (5) years and three (3) months.
On or about April 8, 2020, through April 9, 2020, while employed as an RN with a healthcare services provider in Denton, Texas, RN withdrew two (2) tablets of Tramadol 50 mg from the medication dispensing system for a patient and administered the same to the patient, in excess dosage of the physician’s order, which was for the administration of one (1) tablet of Tramadol 50 mg. In addition, RN inaccurately documented the administration of the medication in that she documented the administration of 50 mg of Tramadol at 22:26 and then documented another 50 mg of Tramadol as “not given” at 02:00 with the comment “was given earlier.” RN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient in that failure to administer medication as ordered could have resulted in non-efficacious treatment. In addition, RN’s conduct also resulted in an inaccurate medical record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent caregivers would not have accurate information on which to base their decisions for further care.
In response, RN states that she removed two tablets of Tramadol 50 mg from the medication dispensing system to administer to the patient for a pain level of 7. RN states that the original order was for one tablet of Tramadol 50 mg for a pain score up to 6. The medication dispensing system recorded that one tablet was removed. RN states that the order was adjusted by the provider to be Tramadol 50-100mg for the patient’s rising pain score. RN states that in the chaos of the shift, she failed to return to rectify the count in the medication dispensing system, which triggered an inaccurate drug count.
The above action constitutes grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(10)&(13), Texas Occupations Code, and is a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C),(1)(D)&(1)(N) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12(1)(B).
The evidence against the RN was strong. At the same time, she was not able to properly defend her case in court. As a result, her nursing license was placed under disciplinary action.
Avoid a similar thing from happening on your end. Make sure to find the right defense attorney in case a complaint will be filed against you before the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). For more details or for a confidential consultation regarding accusations, it’s best to contact an experienced Texas nurse attorney. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is an experienced nurse attorney who represented more than 200 nurse cases for RNs and LVNs for the past 16 years. You can call him at (832)-428-5679 to get started or to inquire for more information regarding nursing license case defenses.
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