The nurse is caring for a patient admitted for nephrolithiasis. The patient is experiencing severe pain and the provider writes the following order: “5 mg MSO4.” Which action by the nurse is most appropriate?

Contact the provider to clarify the medication order. The provider should be contacted because there is no indication for how the medication should be administered. In addition, the use of the abbreviation MSO4 for morphine sulfate has been discontinued because it can be easily confused with magnesium sulfate. Therefore, this order needs to be clarified. The provider should be contacted rather than the pharmacy or the nursing supervisor to clarify the order since the provider was the one who wrote it. Administering the medication is not appropriate since the order is not clear.

The nurse is caring for a patient admitted for nephrolithias...

Category: Safety and Infection Control
Difficulty: 4

Topics: Communication & Documentation Medication and Blood Products Routes of Administration Health Care Ethics, Law, and Policy Health Care Quality

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