What is the required action after identifying a medication error?

• A. Prompt patient education only
• B. Report to the charge nurse and complete an incident report
• C. Ignore and move on
• D. Document only in the chart

Answer: (B)

When a medication error is identified, the immediate priority is to protect the patient and begin the safety response. The required action is to alert the charge nurse (or the appropriate supervisor) and complete an incident report. This combination ensures the patient is promptly assessed and monitored, any necessary corrective actions are taken, and the event is formally documented for quality improvement. The incident report creates a formal record to help identify system issues and prevent recurrence, and it operates separately from the patient’s chart to support learning and safety initiatives. While educating the patient and charting the event are important, they don’t replace the need to report the error and file the incident report.