Well, I finally made a big medication error.

Specialties Emergency

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So, just got home from work and probably won't sleep too well tonight because I just made a rather large med error. Had a two week old come in with a 101.6 rectal temp. I get a far more experienced nurse to come and help with IV, foley, etc., as I didn't feel it would be safe for me to attempt to care for this baby on my own. So we draw labs, get urine, and do an LP. After the LP, the MD orders two abx (300 mg cefotaxime and 300 mg ampicillin) and a 120 ml NS bolus. I double check my math for how many ml's I need to infuse with another nurse (we don't have 24 hr pharmacy) and hang both, get them infused before I take her to the peds unit. Also, the MD orders 90 mg Tylenol PO. I grab that before I take her up as well. Baby is looking/acting far better and I take her to the floor with Mom.

Well, about an hour later, the peds nurse calls and says she is getting a weight of 3.52 kg, compared to our 6.1 kg. Apparently, the triage nurse had charted the weight wrong from the scale (charting lbs as kg) and it was never caught by myself or the doc.

We ran through the dosages for the meds we gave and, according to the mg/kg/day amounts, we are in the safe range. However, I feel absolutely horrible about all this right now. I'm usually extremely careful with dosages, especially with babies, but somehow the weight just not looking right didn't ever click in my head. I think not having to do any dosage calculations myself helped me to not catch the weight error, but that's still no excuse for this to have happened. I feel AWFUL.

I guess the point of this thread is to sort of vent my frustration with myself. I dunno. Anyone had a similar situation occur?

LOL at the turkey/chicken comparisons!hehe!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Effective though isn't it? Even though my son was 11.3 at birth. Typical newborns aren't the size of the Thanksgiving Turkey.

yeah, i had a turkey too. now he's 6'3" and 425#. big boy.

Specializes in Pedi.
So, just got home from work and probably won't sleep too well tonight because I just made a rather large med error. Had a two week old come in with a 101.6 rectal temp. I get a far more experienced nurse to come and help with IV, foley, etc., as I didn't feel it would be safe for me to attempt to care for this baby on my own. So we draw labs, get urine, and do an LP. After the LP, the MD orders two abx (300 mg cefotaxime and 300 mg ampicillin) and a 120 ml NS bolus. I double check my math for how many ml's I need to infuse with another nurse (we don't have 24 hr pharmacy) and hang both, get them infused before I take her to the peds unit. Also, the MD orders 90 mg Tylenol PO. I grab that before I take her up as well. Baby is looking/acting far better and I take her to the floor with Mom.

Well, about an hour later, the peds nurse calls and says she is getting a weight of 3.52 kg, compared to our 6.1 kg. Apparently, the triage nurse had charted the weight wrong from the scale (charting lbs as kg) and it was never caught by myself or the doc.

We ran through the dosages for the meds we gave and, according to the mg/kg/day amounts, we are in the safe range. However, I feel absolutely horrible about all this right now. I'm usually extremely careful with dosages, especially with babies, but somehow the weight just not looking right didn't ever click in my head. I think not having to do any dosage calculations myself helped me to not catch the weight error, but that's still no excuse for this to have happened. I feel AWFUL.

I guess the point of this thread is to sort of vent my frustration with myself. I dunno. Anyone had a similar situation occur?

Perhaps your institution should consider locking all the scales in the "kg" mode. That's what my former institution did... the scales were set to measure in kg and the "pound" button was disabled. I'm sure something like this probably happened to warrant the change.

Well you just proved you are human. I really hate this happened. I can tell from your other posts that you are conscientious in your decision making, and this will be a huge stepping stone for you. You will probably never miss another "out-of-place" weight, and I appreciate you sharing this- you'll never know how many other nurses you have helped by posting this (Know that doesn't make you feel better right now). But, that said, just as the above post says- raise cane when you see a Pound Wt. on a Pediatric Chart. Awesome to hear they were in Safe Dose Ranges too. Hope you feel better soon.
I agree that this post will help other nurses avoid this mistake. Its the reason I opened up this thread because I try to learn from others mistakes

I bet the child's urine could cure a topical infection!!!

Be Careful, Let this be an awakening! Good Luck in the future.

Use the 5 Rights! Kidneys are a terrible thing to Waste!

Wow, seriously, thank you everyone for all the posts. I went and saw the little girl today at work and she was doing great. Her dosages had been adjusted accordingly. I'm extremely thankful for the outcome, but it's definitely a learning experience. The triage nurse failed me on the weight, but it's definitely something I will catch in the future. I'm just glad my learning experience didn't come at the expense of injury to the little girl.

Once again, thanks everyone. I mean it.

We require all peds weights to be in kg. I like the idea of locking the scale in kg mode. I hope you told the triage nurse about the mistake too, so s/he can learn to be consistent with weighing in kg only. And, I'm glad the kiddo's okay!

I am so sorry that this happened to you and sooo happy to here that the itty bitty patient will be ok!!! I'm also extremely greatful that you posted this because this is an error that is sooooo easy to make. I usually trust that my triage nurse is documenting the correct weight and the computer system has its checks and balances when the doctor enters an order for a weight based drug it automatically generates the dosage and once pharmacy gives the green light so to speak (they have to send up all the peds antibiotics because we dont keep those doses in the ED and most all have to go on a syringe pump and have to be mixed by pharmacy anyway) I usually feel comfortable just having another nurse check that the dosing matches the order with me and then I give the drug.....I will now double check that the weight is accurate, even in the computer because there is no automatic check in the system....theres only me eye-balling the baby......oh scary what an easy error that is to make!!! Thank you for sharing this. Maybe we need to implement a time out form for dosing checks on medications like they do time outs for procedures and OR patients....gotta bring that up at the next meeting.

Specializes in ER/Trauma.

Glad the kiddo wasn't harmed.

Now give yourself 10 lashes with a wet noodle and carry on...

I almost always have another nurse eyeball/check my peds drugs (even saline bolus/drip) before I give 'em.

It's just an added layer of 'security'.

cheers,

Specializes in ED, Clinical Documentation.

so scary. i'm sorry. thankfully no adverse event. there needs to be some consideration in how to prevent the same problem in triage again.

when i medicate kids i often ask the parent, "does he/she weigh approx xxlbs?" or "approx how many lbs does he/she weigh?" (and i've done the math). it's a way i can double check that the kid was weighed right.

Do your scales weigh in pounds? Because that's a systems issue. The scales should give you kg weight so that kg are directly charted in to the chart instead of having to remember a conversion step. Personal responsibility is all well and good, but this seems like a systems error more so than an individual error.

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