Question

After leaving work, a nurse realizes documentation of administration of a PRN medication was omitted. This off-duty nurse phones the unit and tells the nurse, "Please document administration of the medication for me; I forgot to do it. My password is alpha1." The nurse receiving the call should:

Answer 1

The receiving nurse should advise the off-duty nurse to report the omission to a supervisor and to follow the facility's policies on late documentation, not document on their behalf, and never use another person's login credentials.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a nurse realizes that documentation of the administration of a PRN medication was omitted, it is critical to maintain integrity and proper protocol in record-keeping. The nurse receiving the call should not document the medication administration for the off-duty nurse. Instead, the receiving nurse should advise the off-duty nurse to report the incident to their supervisor or follow their healthcare facility's policy on late documentation and medication errors. Additionally, sharing passwords is a violation of privacy and security regulations. It is important to never use another person's login credentials to enter information into a patient's health record.