A client has been discharged, and while housekeeping is cleaning the room they find a yellow pill on the room floor. They bring it you, as you were the nurse who discharged the client. When you review the client's chart, the pill is identified as Lasix (furosemide), a medication the client normally received in the morning. What should you do?
A)Throw the pill away and forget about the incident.
B)Fill out a medication incident/error report and inform the doctor.
C)Ask the housekeeping staff to throw the pill away.
D)Assume the pill must have been dropped by another nurse who worked the previous morning. I couldn't have been you.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If housekeeping staff were to find pills on the floor of a client's room they should notify the nurse. This is a medication error, so an incident form must be filled out and the doctor notified. Filling out an incident form does not mean a nurse is to be reprimanded, rather, these are forms that help track errors and establish guidelines that may help prevent similar errors in the future.

A Client Has Been Discharged, and While Housekeeping Is Cleaning