Do you feel powerless when a patient refuses medication?

1. Because a client legally has the right to refuse medication, the nurse can only recommend, advise, suggest, or urge the patient to comply. Consequently, it is important to understand the nurse's response to patient refusal of medication. 2. Overall, nurses were more apt to identify with indirect indicators than they were to identify words that address the concept directly (control and powerlessness). 3. The most common hazard identified in a medication refusal event was the potential for injury, and the individuals most at risk were the nurse giving the medication and other personnel on the unit. 4. The most prominent nursing response to medication refusal was counseling. Nearly all the nurse subjects believed that the medication refusal event negatively influenced nursing care, the patient/nurse interaction, and patient teaching.