How do you get over your new RN boo boos (mistakes)

bubbly · Jan 16, 2009

Everyone makes mistakes. I just have to put the mistake in perspective and tell myself that as long as the patient is ok and there is no long term damage, it will be just fine. The worst you can do is not learn from your mistakes. If you missed a med, ask yourself why and try to fix that problem the next time you give meds. It will just take practice and a lot of the little things in nursing like labeling and charting stuff will just come naturally to you. Good luck and focus on the things that you are doing right and learning quickly to drown out the mistakes you keep dwelling on. :)

love-d-OR · Jan 17, 2009

Thanks to everyone for responding and for the encouraging words, I needed that. I was really busy with two sick pairs, and I must have scanned through pt's B MAR and missed the med. Anyway, I am moving on that incident and taking with me the lesson I learned. I have also learned that I need more sleep, as I tend to stay up until midnight and wake at about 530am to go to work. During the day I am yawning and feel very tired from the moment I enter work. No more smile and excitment, I thaught it was my job, but I think it is the lack of sleep. We'll see how it goes with these lessons learned and words of wisdom! Thanks again

mcknis · Jan 17, 2009

If it wasnt for mistakes, I would be perfect, but Lord knows that isn't possible. Prayer and reflection on God get me through my mistakes and it is through Him that we can do all things!

RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2009

I've made few mistakes now and then, but none serious thus far, knock on wood. I learn from my mistakes. I just always double check myself on almost everything; I'm an OCD type of person. LOL. I see experienced nurses make mistakes a lot. It happens, were human.

reimundijanet · Jan 20, 2009

I´m a new nurse myself and the hardest part of doing a mistake is when the older nurses or experienced ones make fun of you or they keep gossiping about your mistake. For instance in my first week working in the ER I was very slow and as the days went by I became more familiar with the way people work but then they threw me in new admissions and taking new physicians orders and I didn´t understood anything the MD wrote, I was constantly asking the other nurses what was written and some of them would help but others would give me attitude and that made me feel so uncomfortable. Just the other week they gave me the key to the narcotics box and I placed the key in the counter to dispatch an Iophen susspension and a nurse took the key and hid it in her pocket. When I realized th key was not in the counter I went nuts looking for it as she watch and made fun of me, after 20 minutes of asking, without my supervisor noticing she came to me and dangle the key in front of my face and told me that next time she would give it to my supervisor and I told her that there wasn´t going to be a next time and that I hope she enjoyed watching me suffer and hopefully she would never had to go thru something like that because the I was the one who was going to sit and laugh. The week after that she needed to change a shift to celebrate her husbands birthday and she asked me if we change shift, I told her that I did had the day available but I simply didn´t want to help.

mcknis · Jan 20, 2009

I´m a new nurse myself...."The week after that she needed to change a shift to celebrate her husbands birthday and she asked me if we change shift, I told her that I did had the day available but I simply didn´t want to help."

Sure she was just trying to help you realize what you had done. I have worked with many who have done these sorts of things to make me realize my little mistakes, but later, i can see the humor and the blessings behind all of it.

evilolive, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2009

I feel like I just made a boo-boo this morning and reading everyone's replies really have helped me calm down a little bit.

For my situation, I have a resident (in LTC) who went out for a minor surgery this AM. He is a Parkinson's pt and takes Sinemet around the clock and seroquel prn for anxiety. I gave him his 8am dose of Sinemet early and a seroquel as well. He asked if I could give him a dose of sinemet and a seroquel to take with him in case he got delayed for some reason with his surgery. Since he has a G-tube, I crushed a dose of sinemet and seroquel and gave them to him to take with him since I'm not sure when he will be back.

I feel sompletely awful and I have a feeling that I'm going to be in deep doo-doo if he returns with the meds unused or if he mentions he took the meds to another staff member when he returns. I just feel like I was trying to do the right thing, but I didn't even think before doing what I did. I know that I should move on from this, but I really do not want to feel the wrath of my administration.

I am just praying that this slides...

mcknis · Jan 21, 2009

Well, that is quite a predicament. I do agree with you about taking the dose of meds with him, and since there should be an RN or LPN there on site, I do see your point. I had a pt not too long ago who we were worried about since he was a brittle diabetic pt and was leaving our facility for a PET scan (only done across the street at an outpatient facility. The facility has fully trained and staffed RNs working who have been doing nursing for quite some time, however, he was going to the rad dept and would not be seen full time by an RN. The physician at our hospital who was okaying the transfer per EMS wanted to know if I could just up and leave my pts to attend to this one. I advised him I couldn't, but called over to the receiving facility for a complete report to advised them of this pts brittle DMs. They assured me that if they saw something going on that they would call their nurses who were just down the hall, to assess the situation. I was so pleased because these nurses were able to give D50 if needed, and thankfully didnt have to. I totally understand your thoughts and feelings, but how did your bosses feel about it? Just curious and take care!

evilolive, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2009

I'll let you know what happens when I go back to work tonight 11-7. I haven't received a call yet, so hopefully things are okay.

statuspending · Jan 22, 2009

good luck

SoundofMusic · Jan 23, 2009

I am about seven months off orientation now, and it seems I'm still making mistakes, even worse ones. Every day I walk in, there seems to be something that just gets thrown at me and there just aren't the friendly preceptors around now -- just the nasty old seasoned nurses who aren't too nice about my mistakes. I get tired of it, but try to go on and chalk it up to learning and "doing the time." Even though the experiences are trying, I'm learning from them and hope to fall back on it at some point.

I was horrible in a code situation last night, and I just feel like the biggest dope this a.m. I was surrounded by all the experienced hot shots who basically reduced me to an errand girl in a code for MY patient -- ****** me off. They just all seem to come in and take over and it can make you feel like THEY dont' trust YOU to know what you're doing. The problem is -- that vibe actually reduces my confidence and I start screwing up -- I hate it when that happens.

I just wish over and over the "seasoned" nurses would cut new nurses some fricking SLACK. How can we automatically perform brilliantly in every situation when we haven't even lived through them yet? There is often "teaching" on skills in theory, but no real life experience taught until you're knee deep in crap --

I dont' know the answer -- it's just incredibly painful to be climbing up that learning curve!

mcknis · Jan 24, 2009

I just wish over and over the "seasoned" nurses would cut new nurses some fricking SLACK. How can we automatically perform brilliantly in every situation when we haven't even lived through them yet?

Didn' they teach the same thing in all nursing schools? It's all about what you learn on ER, House, or Scrubs . Silly kids...