Question 85

This is an example of an incorrect patient medication error.

When Lisa Jones received a vial of medication that belonged to Liza Johns, it illustrates a medication error involving the wrong patient. This error typically occurs when medications are mistakenly assigned to the wrong individual, leading to potential health risks.

A) Look-alike/sound-alike

This option refers to errors that occur due to medications having similar names or appearances. While this situation could potentially lead to confusion, it does not accurately describe the specific error in this scenario, which is about the wrong patient rather than similar drug names.

B) Transition of care

Transition of care refers to the process of transferring a patient’s care from one setting to another, such as from hospital to home. This option does not apply to the situation described, as there is no indication of a change in patient care settings involved in this medication error.

C) Improper dose

Improper dose errors occur when a patient receives an incorrect dosage of their medication. In this case, the issue is not related to dosage but rather to the fact that the medication belonged to a different patient entirely, making this option incorrect.

D) Incorrect patient

This option correctly identifies the error as one involving the wrong patient. The specific situation described shows that Lisa Jones mistakenly received medication intended for Liza Johns, which is a clear case of a medication error involving patient misidentification.

Conclusion

The error in this scenario is definitively identified as one involving the incorrect patient, as Lisa received a medication that was not prescribed to her. Other options do not accurately reflect the nature of the mistake, which emphasizes the importance of ensuring proper patient identification in medication dispensing to prevent such errors.