By Barbara Forshier on September 9th, 2025 in Medication Errors
Nurses are the beating heart of the healthcare system. Nursing means working long hours, managing multiple patients, juggling medications, procedures, and documentation, all while offering emotional support to those in their care. The demands are relentless, the expectations are high, and the room for error feels razor-thin.
The job can seem superhuman, but even the best nurses are not. If you’re a nurse who’s been accused of a medication error, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed or even ashamed. However, there are steps you can take to protect your license, your livelihood, and your professional future.
Forshier Law is led by Barbara Forshier, an RN-Attorney with over 40 years of experience as a nurse. As a former nurse, Barb knows that mistakes can happen even to the best nurses. Forshier Law offers compassionate, grounded legal guidance to nurses who need licensing board defense.
What is a Medication Error?
A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to medication misuse or patient harm. These mistakes can occur at any stage, from prescribing and transcribing to dispensing, administering, or monitoring pharmaceuticals. Under stressful conditions, even the most skilled and experienced nurses can make mistakes.
Examples of Medication Errors
Medication errors can take many forms. Some common types of medication errors include:
- Administering the wrong medication to a patient due to look-alike or sound-alike drug names or packaging
- Giving the incorrect dosage, such as ten times the prescribed amount due to a decimal point error
- Omitting a dose entirely, either unintentionally or due to a documentation oversight
- Administering medication at the wrong time, particularly when timing is crucial for the drug’s effectiveness
- Using the wrong route (e.g., giving an IV drug intramuscularly)
- Failing to check for allergies, leading to an adverse reaction
- Incorrectly programming infusion pumps, resulting in too rapid or too slow delivery of medication
- Mislabeling medications or misreading handwritten orders.
It is important that you utilize all available safety measures to prevent medication errors. For instance, if your employer provides bar-code scanning, you must make every effort to scan every medication.
If you experience scanning issues, be sure to report according to facility policy. Many nurses have been accused of diverting, stealing controlled substances, due to failure to scan at a certain percentage.
These medication error examples are not limited to hospital settings. They can also include outpatient care, at-home healthcare, phone call consultations, and more.
What Are the Consequences of Medication Errors for Nurses in Minnesota?
Nursing medication errors do not mean your license will be automatically disciplined, but the review process is taken very seriously. In Minnesota, the consequences of a medication error can vary widely depending on the context. For instance, the severity of the error, the harm caused (if any), and whether it was reported properly and promptly all influence the outcome of an investigation. Some potential repercussions include:
- Additional training or remedial education, often mandated by the Board of Nursing.
- Work restrictions, such as being barred from administering certain types of medications or working in high-risk environments.
- Monitoring or probation, where your nursing activities are closely supervised.
- Suspension or revocation of your license, particularly if the error involved gross negligence, repeated mistakes, or failure to report.
Even if no actual harm came to a patient, the Minnesota Board of Nursing may still take action, especially if there’s evidence of carelessness, dishonesty, or poor documentation.
Reporting Medication Errors in Nursing
Timely medication error reporting is critical when it comes to protecting your professional reputation. It is always better to have a medication error come to light because you reported it, instead of it being discovered by another medical professional or the patient’s family. Being forthright shows integrity, and in many cases, it can work in your favor when disciplinary boards evaluate your case.
That being said, speaking up can be nerve-wracking. You might worry about being judged by your peers or supervisors, or fear how it might affect your job and license. But it’s important to remember that reporting errors is not just about accountability; it’s also a necessary part of the job. As a nurse, your top priority is patient safety and transparency. If you made a medication error or saw someone else do so, you must report it to avoid causing patient harm.
Failing to report a medication error can result in additional disciplinary action, often more severe than if the error had been reported immediately and honestly. Many healthcare facilities have specific reporting protocols in place, including incident reports and internal reviews.
What To Do If You’re a Minnesota Nurse Accused of a Medication Error
Medication errors in nursing are stressful for everyone involved, even if there is no lasting harm done. Whether or not the accusation against you is true, you will need to respond to it thoughtfully and strategically. You can:
1. Contact a Nursing License Defense Lawyer
The Minnesota Board of Nursing has the power to investigate, discipline, or even revoke your license. However, you have the right to an attorney during this process. Forshier Law can advocate on your behalf for the best possible outcome and make sure you aren’t taken by surprise by any steps of the investigation.
2. Understand the Investigation Process
A medication error will likely only be reported to the Board if it caused serious harm, there was a lawsuit that resulted in payment for damages, or you were terminated due to the mistake. Once a Board report is made, the Board will launch an investigation. This can include:
- Requests for documentation
- Interviews with you
- A formal complaint letter outlining alleged violations
- Possible hearings or settlement agreements
An experienced nursing license defense lawyer can help you:
- Respond appropriately to the Board’s inquiries
- Gather supporting evidence (e.g., documentation, character references)
- Prepare for interviews or hearings
- Negotiate disciplinary outcomes when appropriate
This is not something you should try to handle alone. Even a small misstep in how you respond can have long-term consequences.
3. Stay Calm and Professional
Medication errors in nursing can be high-stakes situations. It’s easy to become defensive, emotional, or even paralyzed with fear. However, staying calm and cooperative can help protect your patients as well as your position. Don’t argue with investigators or supervisors, and avoid venting on social media or to colleagues. Anything you say online or in person to a colleague could be used against you in the investigation.
Learn How Forshier Law Can Help You Protect Your License After a Medication Error
At Forshier Law, Barbara Forshier spent 40 years as a Twin Cities nurse. Barb has built up the experience in both hospital settings and the courtroom to understand what you may be up against, as well as where you’re coming from. Forshier Law works on a flat fee basis so that you can rest easy that you are not racking up unnecessary expenses during your nursing license defense. Contact Forshier Law today for help reporting a medication error and protecting your work as a nurse.
