especially when you could have swept it under the carpet.......a short while back, l went into the pt room to give an IM inj. Almost always, l draw up meds in the med area, for some reason, that evening l did it in the pt room....l change needles after l draw up the med, so when l re-capped the firs needle, l laid it on the counter, turns out the cap was loose. Next thing l know, a visitor was stuck with this needle... thankfully it was not contaminated biohazard-wise....pt did not want to see a doc, wasn't upset, and no one else knew....but l wrote it up, didn't feel l had a choice. If anything had come of it later it would have been much worse and the injured could have made false claimes. So l got a "verbal". My NM was great about it but stopped short of commending me for my honesty, which l found dissapointing.

Anyone care to share?:) .........LR

l meant to post a poll.........oh well, don't know what happened.

I've written myself up too.......I have this thing about honesty, and I will admit it if I make a mistake, even if it earns me a disciplinary action. It's better than having something come back on me later. Thankfully, however, I've only had to do this twice!

Sure have...mine have all been the Domino Effect so far...I like to think of incident reports as a learning tool rather than somebody's-gonna-get-crap-for-this launch...

I've written myself up for my mistakes my thought is that it's better to be honest about it from the start so it doesn't appear you are trying to hide anything because 9 times out of 10 if you think it can be swept under the carpet, there's always going to be somebody looking under it.

Yep.

Not only have I written myself up for what I considered a mistake, which my DON laughed at and threw out but I have written my husband up. You just gotta do what 'cha gotta do!

Originally posted by ThirdWorldGirl

I've written myself up for my mistakes my thought is that it's better to be honest about it from the start so it doesn't appear you are trying to hide anything because 9 times out of 10 if you think it can be swept under the carpet, there's always going to be somebody looking under it.

Yes, I have written myself up and this above post sums up my own feelings about incident reports. I don't want a potential problem hanging over my head, too, so I'd rather face things head on. I also see incident reports as a learning tool as RNonsense expressed.

They say incident reports point out a problem in the system. Perhaps there is something wrong in the system! (Not necessarily the RN's fault). What if incidents occur on days where the unit is understaffed?

Look at the move towards needleless systems, pyxis, charting sysems, etc.

I turn in incident reports on myself because when I make an error there is a good reason for it.

Incident reports should not be considered puinitive. They are intended to report untoward occurances. And yes, I have written an incident report on myself. Med error.

Sure. We all make mistakes. I would be less trustful of someone who didn't...Wouldn't you?

you did the right thing. I have written myself up over a med error. It could have easily like your situation been swept under the rug and no one would have found out. But, I might have lost sleep and also could come back and bite me! Plus it made me feel good about being honest!

Yes. Just wrote myself up on Friday as a matter of fact. Wrote myself up once about 6 yrs ago and got fired for it tho. If I had that one to do over I may not have, to be honest. I had been written up for missing a mandatory meeting, (facility was in trouble with state inspections and having mandatory meetings daily for about 10 days, requiring night shift to come in during sleep hours), and had been written up for inconsiderate care of a patient. (charted that a woman had been placed on bedpan by this RN and voided very small amt and by the time this RN reached the door was asking for bedpan again and this RN refused) Her careplan included attention-seeking behavior and being a rather new nurse I failed to also chart that she was on a toileting schedule and was reminded of this. Nurses had just voted in a union tho, and eventually most were let go for one reason or another. Anyway I gave 6 units of Regular insulin instead of NPH and then sought out the oncoming supervisor at 6:30 am, and we called the Doc, who just said to make sure she ate breakfast and check BS later (I also gave OJ) and the next day when arrived at work, I was fired as this was such a "serious, and potentially harmful med error". First time I was ever fired from a job. And I took responsibility and was accountable for my error. I didn't have to, as no one was there, but I did.

So, on Friday as I'm doing updates @ my LTC, I see that I have not one but 2 transcription errors on THIS months MAR's. Left off promod and Vitamin C. So wrote me up again. Will I get fired? Don't know, don't care. Had to do it.

I have to beg every month for help to do these updates and do not have the time to 2nd check (7-3 is supposed to). I have between 53-57 residents, and I'm worn out. Am seriously going to look for another job this month, although I fear any in LTC will be the same if not worse.