INSTRUCTIONS Cause to Pause: Preventing medication errors with high-risk opioids

TEST INSTRUCTIONS

* Read the article. The test for this nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) activity is to be taken online at http://www.nursingcenter.com/CE/nursing. Tests can no longer be mailed or faxed.

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* Registration deadline is June 6, 2025.

PROVIDER ACCREDITATION

Lippincott Professional Development will award 1.5 contact hours for this nursing continuing professional development activity.

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This activity is also provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP 11749 for 1.5 contact hours. Lippincott Professional Development is also an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the District of Columbia, Georgia, West Virginia, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Florida, CE Broker #50-1223. Your certificate is valid in all states.

Payment: The registration fee for this test is $17.95.

Cause to Pause: Preventing medication errors with high-risk opioids

LEARNING OUTCOME: Participants will demonstrate competency in clinical reasoning regarding the "cause to pause" safety strategy by achieving a minimum score of 70% on the outcomes-based post-test.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After completing this continuing professional development activity, the participant will be able to apply knowledge gained to: 1. Select the essential aspects of the "cause to pause" strategy for preventing medication errors. 2. Identify the concepts that typically account for human errors. 3. Choose the precautions that might have helped prevent the downward trajectory of the patient in the author's case study.

1. By initiating a standardized process for clinical decision making when a safety concern arises, the "cause to pause" construct was designed to build upon nursing

a. knowledge.

b. intuition.

c. empathy.

2. The "cause to pause" strategy includes which step?

a. eliminating distractions

b. assessing the patient's clinical status

c. rechecking the provider's order

3. According to the ISMP, most human errors are either execution failures or

a. skill failures.

b. system failures.

c. planning failures.Case-based scenario: Placing yourself in the role of the nurse caring for the patient, MP, in the author's case study, apply the knowledge you acquired to answer questions 4 through 7.

4. When administering the dose of 4 mg I.V. push hydromorphone hourly to an opioid-naive patient in a general care unit, you should implement the gold standard for hydromorphone safety monitoring, which is

a. capnography.

b. blood pressure monitoring.

c. central venous pressure monitoring.

5. To ensure medication safety for MP, you work with four critical concepts: the six rights of medication administration, look-alike and sound-alike medications, opioid naivety, and

a. opioid dependence.

b. high-alert medications.

c. risk management protocols.

6. Your lack of knowledge of any of those four critical concepts when caring for MP could lead to a breach of which step of the "cause to pause" strategy?

a. thinking clearly

b. stopping what you are doing

c. ensuring compliance with the standard of care

7. As you are about to administer the IV push dose of medication to MP, attention to which of the six rights of medication administration would have prevented you from proceeding with medication administration?

a. the right route

b. the right time

c. the right dose

8. The concept of "opioid naive" refers to patients who

a. have a history of alcohol use disorder.

b. have not received opioids in the previous 30 days.

c. do not understand the dangers of these medications.

9. Healthcare professionals who believe that they will never make severe mistakes in care delivery are demonstrating which type of bias?

a. implicit bias

b. normalcy bias

c. confirmation bias

10. According to the ISMP, research has indicated that many individuals who demonstrate at-risk behaviors do so due to

a. a lack of understanding of the threats to patient safety.

b. a firm determination to demonstrate extreme efficiency.

c. inadequate knowledge about a particular task or intervention.