• In a new Word document, start with your name and date at the top
• Copy and paste the questions below (keep the numeric question format in your document)
• Answer each question with at least 2-3 complete sentences for full credit
• Re-upload and submit the completed Word document to Canvas

CASE STUDY:

Madison Wills worked night shift on a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a major medical center. She assumed the care of a very sick premature infant who weighed 1 kg (a little over 2 lb). Sylvia Smithson had been the infant nurse during the day shift. Sylvia had started the infant intravenous (IV) antibiotic infusion at 6:30 p.m., just before shift change. She reported that the infant IV line in his arm was flowing without difficulty and the IV site had no redness or swelling.

When Madison assessed the infant at 7:45 after the end-of-shift report, she noted that the baby arm was swollen and that the IV had infiltrated (was no longer in the vein). When she stopped the medication, she also noted that the dose on the antibiotics was incorrect and was much too large for a very small infant.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the first thing that Madison should do after discovering these two problems?
2. Which of these problems (the infiltration or the dosing) was the most significant?
3. What is the nurse responsibility when an antibiotic is prepared by the pharmacy?
4. Did malpractice occur? Why or why not?
5. Who would you hold responsible for the errors which occurred? Why?
6. What could have been done to prevent the errors?

GUIDELINES

• Assignments will NOT be accepted by email or in the Canvas Comments Box.
• You have multiple attempts (prior to grading) in case an error is made to re-submit your assignment or journal to Canvas.
• It is your responsibility to check Canvas to be sure assignments have been submitted completely and correctly prior to the due date and time. You will not be allowed to re-submit once an assignment has been graded.
• If assignments/journals are not submitted in the correct format as an attachment in Microsoft Word, (submit a blank document or a Pages document, for example) students will receive a ‘0’ on that assignment and will not be allowed to re-submit.
• You may turn this assignment in late for up to 2 days for a -10 percentage point penalty per day.

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