First med error!

[perfectbluebuildings]

I feel so bad... last night I made my first major med error... it was one of those things where after you draw it out of the vial you have to waste some of it to get the correct dose? Well, waste not want not little me, just gave the kid the whooole thing. Luckily it was not a strong med and it was not too high for his weight technically. But he did feel like crap for most of the rest of the night. I didn't realize how bad this would feel- me someone now who is supposed to help kids feel BETTER was directly responsible for a kid feeling a lot WORSE!!!

I did check on him a lot, and let him know what happened (he is an older kid), and to let me know if he needed anything at all. But now thinking back, I can't remember if I ever ever apologized. That stinks if I didn't. I hope I did cause I surely felt sorry. I felt even worse cause he was so nice and polite and didn't yell at me or anything... just said "Okay" when I explained what was going on, never got mad at all, though I am afraid he is someone who just didn't want ME to feel bad, which makes me feel worse kind of! He is pretty much fine this morning but I still feel horrible. I had had him all weekend and thought maybe I was starting to gain his trust and confidence, well guess not anymore! I just hope, thinking back on it now, that I apologized!!! It seems awful if I didn't. Though I am sure he knew I was concerned it probably would have helped him to hear straight from me that I was sorry. OK I'll stop going on about that now, since I can't change it anyway, and just hope for the best.

My NM this morning met with me and just asked me what I did to correct the situation, etc., and luckily was quite nice about it, I was relieved about that anyway.

Anyone else have any med error stories yet...? I hope that I am not the only one. It is hard to believe that I did it still. I hope the kid won't ask never to have me as a nurse again. Oh well, if he does, it's his prerogative in an effort to get better nursing care and I wouldn't blame him, though I would miss taking care of him, he is an awesome kid!

[Deb123j]

At my school - we were told a couple of weeks ago (1st class - fundamentals) that if we ever make a med error that we shouldn't tell the patient that we made a mistake. The only time that you would tell is if would actually hurt the patient.

We were also told not to put any mistakes in the patients chart, but instead to make an incident report for the hospital that is not admissable in court.

What do you all think about that??? It sounded kinda weird to me.

My instructor said that if it was a serious error (like you had to keep on checking on them) it would be a ethics call on the nurses part wether or not to tell the patient.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

Deb... I think that if it is a med error that is making a patient feel bad, it seems like they (or their parents if it is a very small child) have a right to know that that's what's happening, and not that they are having some kind of complication of their illness or whatever, just so they are aware. I would appreciate it, if I was a patient and a nurse did what I did to this kid, I would like to know that I wasn't just all of a sudden dizzy and knocked out for no good reason. :) But, I don't know what the rules are for telling patients. I did feel horrible having to tell the kid it was my fault he felt so bad, but I also would have hated him feeling so bad and wondering what was going on and if he was getting sicker or something. It is a good question.

That policy about checking injectable drugs before giving them with another nurse is a really good idea Wanda. And I agree too that insulin orders can often be confusing if they are not written in all the right places... :)

[SFCardiacRN]

Mistakes happen. What you did next is what will make you a really good nurse. You reported it!!!!!! Never try to cover up mistakes. Reporting is what leads to policy changes. Something good may come from this mistake (changing MAR policy) and no one got hurt. Good luck with your career.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

thanks CardiacRN :) if nothing else changes, at least I learned from this for my future actions, about being more careful with meds especially IV meds!!!

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

At my school - we were told a couple of weeks ago (1st class - fundamentals) that if we ever make a med error that we shouldn't tell the patient that we made a mistake. The only time that you would tell is if would actually hurt the patient.

We were also told not to put any mistakes in the patients chart, but instead to make an incident report for the hospital that is not admissable in court.

What do you all think about that??? It sounded kinda weird to me.

My instructor said that if it was a serious error (like you had to keep on checking on them) it would be a ethics call on the nurses part wether or not to tell the patient.

My facility's official policy is that the patient must be told about med errors. Now they are funny about how they define "error." If I went by the book, I'd have to fill out a variance for picking up the wrong med, then realizing it, and picking up the right one. The person who told us this, in class, actually used to work on my floor so she should know we don't have time to document stuff like that. Furthermore, although I'll explain to a fully alert/oriented/med conscious patient why I held their blood pressure med, I am not going in there telling them that I can't pick up pills right and have to double check it three times and document that. If I did that, the poor patients would not trust me to hand them a glass of water.

[military spouse]

The vast majority of nurses have made atleast one med error. Just be careful and learn from it!

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

that is what I have heard now military spouse! one nurse I was orienting with to another unit last night said when I told her about it, "oh, now you are officially a nurse!!" :) it made me laugh and also feel a lot better the way she put it.

but you are right... to be more careful and to learn from it are things I will do now with ALL my meds. THank you!!!