Originally Posted by mattsmom81
Hugs to all nurses. Sometimes the hardest thing is forgiving ourselves...but we are all very human and perfection is not an option. Something many facilities and managers seem to dispute.
I agree w/ the above!
Thanks to all the nurses here for sharing their stories. My love, respect and admiration to all of us who have one of the hardest jobs in the world- nursing!
Here are by big mistakes-
Working in a busy surgical unit, I drew up a syringe of insulin for a pt (we were not allowed to take the MARs out of the book, or to take the book w/ us to the pt's bedside).
I kept getting interupted on my way to the pt's room. I had two pts in ajoining rooms w/ very similar names. I thought I could trust my memory instead of going all the way back to the nurses' station again to check the pt's name.
Well, you guessed it- I gave the insulin to the wrong pt. She was not even a diabetic.
Thankfully- it was a low dose. I felt like dirt having to tell the pt, the charge nurse and the doc what I did. BS checks q 1 hr all noc. The pt's BS didn't bottom out- she did fine w/ just orange juice w/ sugar and some crackers. I did not have to give her IV glucose. Although she was not injured, I felt really bad for interupting her sleep all noc to check her BS and make sure she was ok. She needed to rest and recover from her procedure- not be woken up all noc for BS checks! The pt did not speak english, so she was unable to tell me off in a way that I could understand.
I think I was supposed to be written up, but wasn't. This was probably due to the unit be in such a constant state of chaos, my charge nurse just forgot to do it.
Another mistake-
Hopsice inpt unit. Again, I was interupted several times on my way to give a pt her MS Contin. I was just giving it to the pt and realized it was the wrong pt. I started yelling "Spit it out! Spit it out!" I cupped my hand in front of the pt's mouth and she spit out the pill in it. The purple coating had not even started to come off of the pill, and it had only been in her mouth a second or so. Thank goodness she was a slow pill taker!
The pt was demeted so, I don't think she knew what almost happened and did not seem at all bothered when I told her "I almost gave you the wrong pill."
I did not write it up, as the med never actually entered the pt's system. I charted that the pill was wasted, due to contamination.
Here's another story I just remebered- I was working nocs at a LTC. I finished my shift and went out to a leasurely breakfast w/ my husband. I didn't get home until two hours after my shift. When I did, I found four frantic messages on my machine. I had left w/ the narc keys in my pocket.
Thankfully, there were only a couple of narcs due on days shift's first med pass. Two pts got their narcs and hour late.
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the greatest pain that i ever seen in hospital is the pain felt by the mother seeing her newborn child dying and hungering for life, and finally seeing her newborn dead. i May not made a mistake but the personnel did. The child already clinging for breath. I notified the nurse and nurse notified the doctor. THe doctor came too late. Then he is too late to revive the child. The baby had already jitteriness and having spasm all over the body, and epineprhine was injected. But no effects occur. THen the doctor intubated but still no impprovements. Then finally, CPR was employed and furtherly no improvements. THe mother witness all the suffering of her baby until death. The mother was crying. I feel guilty about it, if only i were a doctor with knowledge and skills i will do to help the infant in order to ease the pain of the mother. i interviewed her, she said it is just like im dead. 
