omg! Bad day! Failed my AcLS recert....

[jalws]

So my certification was exp in Nov 2012. I was late to get my recertification b/c I was on maternity leave. So after being up for more than 24hrs and having my dtg in the hopsital I decided that I would try to block all my issue and go to class. After all this was nothing new to me. Wrong! I started out fine. During my mega code my instructor pointed out that she could tell I was nervous. Told me to take my own pulse and breathe. It was over from there. End result... I failed. So on top of ot all. I just transferred to the ED from a CCU. I went and paid for my ACLS recert and got it before I even was scheduled back to work. I emailed her and told her my situation, not trying to make excuses. She told me that for know until I should be independently transfering or caring for pts with cardiac issues. Ugh!! I'm not even off orientation and feel like I def didn't portray a good impression to my mgr. I feel so stupid and am feel like she may think she made a bad choice in hiring me. Worry she may think now I am not cut out for the ED. I know I have a lot to learn and "was" confident that I would do well. But my confidence has been shot.... I am always tough on myself when I fail!! I even worry I may lose my job. Am I being to hard or is that a possibility! ! What now !!!

[Armygirl7]

Don't beat yourself up! Prepare yourself for many more "fails" in nursing! Humble yourself - as previous posters said it's better to legitimately fail than be passed ahead and potentially hurt someone. No one was hurt because you failed ACLS. You were prevented from being around cardiac patients for a short period and you took the initiative and went back and passed the class! Try to breathe and let it go. I am just finishing my 2nd year in the ER - I spent so much time the first year beating myself up over every little mistake - what I learned from that is 2 things: #1: the beating myself up is NOT helpful - it adds additional stress and makes me susceptible to more errors - #2: I transferred that intensity of feeling to learning the lesson and dusting myself off and just plain doing better! There isn't a nurse alive who hasn't made a mistake. If no one was hurt count your blessings, learn the lesson, and trust that those hard times are making you into a better and better nurse, seek remediation, mentoring, keep studying until YOU understand, and move on!

[berrien]

I have seen people very nearly fail, or fail. It's not a huge deal. I think that it depends on your facility with how much they will spoon feed students to help them pass, but there are some critical oversights that the instructor cannot let go. I struggled with the Megacode even though I could mentally step through all of the steps, knew the drugs, dysrhythmias, etc. Got up there and froze, which almost everyone in my group did. The big thing is to slow down, use your algorithms, and think it through.

[AZQuik]

If imagine if they haven't passed by now, they are doomed.