Medical Assistant Prep / Unit 6 MAS 127 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Five Rights
The idea
Before any medication is given, five things are confirmed every time. These are known as the five rights.
In practice
The first right is the right patient: confirm identity with two identifiers before anything else. The second is the right drug: compare the label with the order, by name and strength. The third is the right dose: the amount ordered, measured or calculated correctly. The fourth is the right route: by mouth, by injection or by another route, exactly as ordered. The fifth is the right time: when the order says, and in line with the practice's policy. Each right is checked against the order, not against memory or habit.
Where people slip
The rights are checked every time, including the hundredth time you give the same vaccine. Most medication errors happen in routine moments, when a step is skipped because the task feels familiar.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- 128More Rights in Recent Practice
- 129Bar Code Scanning
- 143Know Your Limits With Medications
- 144An Answer That Did Not Make Sense
- 145Recording What Was Given
- 396An Injection From Start to Finish
- 397One Injection, Done Right
- 401Oxygen Is a Medication
- 408Specimens Begin With the Order and the Lab
- 732Medications and Injections
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