The 6 Rights of Medication Administration for Nurses

Nurses minimize the risk of giving the wrong medication or dose to a patient, administering a medication by the wrong route or time, or failing to document the medication administration accurately by following the six rights of medication administration.

What are the 6 Rights of Medication Administration?

Understanding the 6 rights of medication administration is crucial to nursing education and professional practice.

Nurses must demonstrate competency in medication administration and adhere to the highest standards of patient care.

So let’s break down the 6 rights of med admin:

1. Right Patient
2. Right Drug
3. Right Dosage
4. Right Route
5. Right Time
6. Right Documentation

1. Right Patient: Identifying the Right Patient

The first of the 6 med rights. Nurses must ensure that the medication is being given to the correct patient. This includes verifying the patient’s identity by checking their name, date of birth, or other identifiers.

2. Right Drug: Verifying the Right Medication

You have to make sure a patient is being given the correct medication that their health care provider has prescribed. Nurses should check the medication label and verify the name, dosage, and strength of the medication.

3. Right Dosage: Calculating the Right Dosage

When administering medication, the patient has to receive the correct dose as prescribed by the healthcare provider. The nurse should check the medication label and verify the prescribed dose.

4. Right Route: Checking the Right Route

A nurse must ensure that the medication is being given by the correct route, such as oral, intravenous, intramuscular, or subcutaneous. The nurse should verify that the route is appropriate for the medication and the patient.

5. Right Time: Making Sure it’s the Right Time (for Administration)

Patients need medication from nurses at the correct time as the health care provider prescribes. The nurse should verify the frequency and timing of the medication.

6. Right Documentation: Recording the Right Information in Medical Documents

Nurses must ensure that patients’ medication administration is accurately documented in the patient’s medical records. This includes documenting the medication name, dose, route, time of administration, and any adverse reactions or side effects.

When you practice nursing, you need to know these rights of medication administration to ensure patient safety and prevent medication errors. Medication errors can have severe consequences for patients, ranging from mild side effects to life-threatening complications.

Med Admin FAQs

Can there be 7 rights of medication administration?

Depending on how you are taught, or your institution’s guidelines, we’ve seen 5, 6, 7, 10, or even 12 right’s of medication administration. Some of the added rights are right to refuse, right response, right questions, and right advice.

But the above 6 are paramount to medication admin, so we believe those are non-negotiable to learn.

What are considered the golden rules for medication administration?

The 6 rules of medical administration are the same as the golden rules. Other terms you may hear are:

• 6 Rs of Medication
• 6 Rights
• Medication Rights
• 6 Rights of Medication
• Six med rights

Pass Your Nursing School Classes with Less Stress

Medication administration is a fundamental nursing responsibility, and you must understand the principles and best practices of medication administration as a nursing student.

And medication administration isn’t the only nursing responsibility you’ll take on in the classroom or medical facilities.

SimpleNursing offers easy-to-use tools, like our head to toe assessment checklist, to help nursing processes like medication administration and pharmacology click.

Find out about one of the best nursing school resources here.