Pharmacology

Certification Reviews

This educational activity is designed for nurses — both RNs and LPNs — who deem it necessary to take this workshop as part of remediation and refresher in medication administration. Participants will have the opportunity to practice calculations, discuss best practices and fill appropriate gaps they experience in medication administration.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Identify appropriate formulas to calculate dosages for IV, po and
IM medications
Relate the rights of medication administration to nursing process
Identify a system to decrease distraction when administering
multiple medications
Strategize to develop a drug error prevention system
List three methods to decrease dosage calculation errors
Discuss the action and use of selected drug categories
Strategize to formulate methods to increase error prevention in
medication administration

Nine (9.0) contact hours will be granted to those who pass both parts of the exam. Registrants will be sent study materials and practice calculations prior to the workshop.

DAY ONE

Topics to be covered include:
New drug identification – use of checks and balances in administering.
Discussion of preventable errors.
Review of common physician ordering errors.
Identification of various drug groups.
Interaction of drugs with each other, food, herbs.
Discuss the role of distraction when administering medication.
Discuss lawsuits involving nurses and medication administration.
Review of how these lawsuits could be prevented by looking at why they occurred.

DAY TWO
Topics to be covered include:

Exam Part 1 – IV and medication calculations, requires 100% passing score
Exam Part 2 – medication side effects and actions, requires 80% passing score

Exam administered by NYSNA staff.