What should be done before administering any medication to a patient?

Before administering any medication to a patient, verifying the patient's identity and confirming any allergies is crucial. This process ensures that the right patient receives the correct medication and helps prevent potential adverse reactions, particularly in those who may have allergies to certain drugs.

Confirming the patient's identity typically involves checking their name and date of birth against their medical records or wristband, while verifying allergies requires thorough questioning of the patient to identify any previous reactions to medications, food, or other substances. This step is foundational in patient safety protocols and is a critical component of the "five rights" of medication administration, which include the right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, and right time.

Assessing vital signs, explaining procedures to the family, and documenting medications are all important steps in patient care but occur at different times in the medication administration process. While they contribute to overall safety and communication, they do not take precedence over the verification of the patient's identity and allergies, which directly influences the immediate task of medication delivery.