"I would finish my audit and set all charts with errors to the side. After I completed the audit, I would look for patterns in the charts. For example, did the errors occur on the same shift or by the same person? It could be an opportunity to provide re-education and training if it's the same person making the mistake. I would also look at the severity of the errors. If it was the incorrect acronym over and over, that might not be as big of a deal as failing to document when pain medication was administered to a patient. Once I determined the staff involved in the errors, I would address them immediately. I would loop in the director of nursing so we could document it and also discuss with them the need to report the errors to the state or to conduct disciplinary action with the employee."

"My course of action would depend on the severity of the situation. If a nurse were documenting giving a medication but writing the wrong medication name in the log each time, I would meet with the nurse immediately to review the medication prescribed and compare it to what was given and logged. Medication errors are serious and require special reporting to the director of nursing and sometimes the state. If the error was about a typo or a note in the patient file, that is not as serious but would still need to be addressed. I never sweep errors under the rug. I pride myself on integrity and would work to resolve the problem with whatever steps were necessary to prevent it from happening again."

I first would determine who made the errors. Was it the same person or several different ones? Are there any patterns to the mistakes? If it is the same mistake made by several different people then there is a need for education to all the staff on the issue and what the correct process is. The same thing applies to one person making the same mistake, but the education may only need to include that one person. Certain errors may need to be reported to the patient or patients family or physician based on the severity and company policy. The last thing I would look at would include looking for a breakdown in a process on the unit. Is there a specific unit issue that I can correct to prevent the errors in the future?