Before administering the evening dose of a prescribed medication, the nurse on the evening shift finds an unlabeled, filled syringe in the patient’s medication drawer. What should the nurse in charge do?
A. Discard the syringe to avoid a medication error.
B. Obtain a label for the syringe from the pharmacy.
C. Use the syringe because it looks like it contains the same medication the nurse was prepared to give.
D. Call the day nurse to verify the contents of the syringe.
Correct Answer: A. Discard the syringe to avoid a medication error.
As a safety precaution, the nurse should discard an unlabeled syringe that contains medication. The other options are considered unsafe because they promote error.
Option B: Since there are no labels on the syringe, obtaining a label from the pharmacy does not guarantee that they would be able to identify the medication inside the syringe.
Option C: Giving an unidentified medication could cause unwanted effects on the patient instead of desired effects.
Option D: The day nurse would not be able to guarantee that she could identify the medication without its label.