crap...am I in huge trouble???

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So im in orientation and I started the sink to warm up the water and got called out of the room...........you guessed it I forgot and when i came back 5- 10 minutes later the entire hospital room was COVERED in water. We called house keeping and cleaned it up it took about 20 towels and i thought it was all over but then another patient started having water seeping in....so we called maintenance but then it was change of shift so i left. I just assumed that the sink had the secondary drain ....bad assumption. I feel like a complete idiot and am worried im going to get fired over my stupid mistake.

Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
I did the same thing this week (patient was trying to pee and could not so I ran the water for them)...

Did this exact thing three weeks ago! :uhoh3:

Only "flooded" part of the room though.

Guess it's universal condition: all facility drains are s---l---o---w. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If that's the worst thing you do, you'll be in good shape.

Stuff happens.

I remember when my ex-husband (who used to work maintenance in my old job, oh... about 20 years ago now) spilled a huge bucket of toilet cleaner on a brand new hallway carpet.

All of us girls (CNA's) scrambled to help him get it cleaned up before it ate through the carpet.

Alas, the damage had been done.

The boss wasn't happy but he didn't get fired.

Too bad... then maybe I wouldn't have dated and then married him, lol.

Anyhoo!

No way you'd get fired for that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in SNU/SNF/MedSurg, SPCU Ortho/Neuro/Spine.

On my 4th day in orientation I raised A bed With the trapeze on a wall mounted dinamap and flat screen tv and broke both, that same night I walked by a room (God must sent me that way because wasn't even my patient) had a successful code which I gues got more attention then the TV and dinamap I broke! I learned lots from it though, with both experiences!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB, Med/Surg, Ortho, ICU.

My daughters just flooded our bathroom, and they were in some serious trouble. But I forgave them and gave them hugs and told them not to do it again. I hope things go as well for you. ;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Were your coworkers smiling and saying "don't worry about it, honey" or were they gathering in small groups casting furtive glances at you as you walked by? Did all conversation come to a screeching halt as you approached? Seriously, I'm sure you'll be fine.

A nurse working with me on a private duty case was so nervous about feeding the pt on her first day she managed to fling her arm and send the patient's dinner flying across the room, shattering his plate, the food went flying, the full nightmare scenario. She worked there for over 5 years after that.:)

I once accidently stepped on a freshly replaced floor tile and got some of the adhesive on my shoe :o. There were trails of sticky stuff heading right to my chair! I was busted!! They had to use solvents to get it off. I felt horrible. But I didn't get fired.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
looked like i had murdered a smurf.

you won't get fired. your pride might get fired for a while though!

that's it! :up:

csi coulda determined location of the 'crime' from the splatter patterns :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Fired over leaking water? I'd hope not...

Ain't that the truth.... woe be it to the incontinent patients. :eek:

Bulk order a gross of corks, asap :up:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
In orientation, my preceptor was showing me how to hang tube feeding. It was a special kind that she had to request from dietary (wasn't stocked on the floor) and when it finally came up at the end of shift, I spiked the wrong part of the tube feeding and it went all over the med room!

On New Year's Eve this past year, I was trying to call for a stat echocardiogram for a patient, but the telephone operator misunderstood what I wanted and ended up sending a urgent page to all the hospital bigwigs that the state had come to survey the hospital! We started getting phone calls from all these random people asking what was going on....no harm done but I felt so stupid having to explain to my nurse manager and DON what I had done!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

That is priceless !!

I had a dietary employee come up to me one night when I was decorating for Christmas (off the clock- jeans- tennis shoes) asking for a nurse- the CN happened to be coming down the hall- so I pointed, and said- "there's one"....she calmly says "the kitchen is on fire"

:eek: WHAT???? We all haul posteriors to the kitchen, and sure enough, flames are coming from the microwave (nobody told Ms Dietary to not reheat the rolls in the foil-thread napkins- 1985- they had these things)

SO, the unit clerk calls the code (red, we figured), and here comes respiratory, the supervisor, some extraneous people from somewhere, the required ICU person, and the PRIEST.... HUC got the colors wrong..... seems he went "blue".... Finally got the "red" people there (after covering the place with the "C" extinguisher dust- which was a bummer, since OB/GYN was in the hall adjoining the neuro floor).... what a mess. Years later, at orientation somewhere ELSE, the maintenance guy STARTS telling this story.... I finished it :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Oh it's so hard to be new sometimes! Stuff happens. You and your job will be fine. No worries.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB.
That is priceless !!

I had a dietary employee come up to me one night when I was decorating for Christmas (off the clock- jeans- tennis shoes) asking for a nurse- the CN happened to be coming down the hall- so I pointed, and said- "there's one"....she calmly says "the kitchen is on fire"

:eek: WHAT???? We all haul posteriors to the kitchen, and sure enough, flames are coming from the microwave (nobody told Ms Dietary to not reheat the rolls in the foil-thread napkins- 1985- they had these things)

SO, the unit clerk calls the code (red, we figured), and here comes respiratory, the supervisor, some extraneous people from somewhere, the required ICU person, and the PRIEST.... HUC got the colors wrong..... seems he went "blue".... Finally got the "red" people there (after covering the place with the "C" extinguisher dust- which was a bummer, since OB/GYN was in the hall adjoining the neuro floor).... what a mess. Years later, at orientation somewhere ELSE, the maintenance guy STARTS telling this story.... I finished it :D

The same coworker mentioned in my previous post also had a similar experience with the microwave. Again, it was in the same new unit right after move in. She placed her popcorn in the new microwave, set the timer as she always had on our dinky old Kmart model and walked away. Unfortunately the new microwaves were industrial strenth models. Smoke began billowing, alarms went off, automatic system shut down ventilation system to the hospital and alarmed at the local fire department. When the firemen arrived my coworker ran and hid in the ladies room, refusing to come out until they had departed! Later she had to deal with maintenence who had to be called in at midnight to reset the ventilation system for the whole hospital.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I once dropped an entire bottle of Hep B vaccination on the floor. Probably 500.00 worth Shattered everywhere! Also dropped a bottle of Lantus-whew that stuff stinks! I agree with the TPN nightmare that stuff NEVER goes away!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Oh yes I dropped an expensive bottle (in vet med anyways) of antibiotic on the floor. It shattered in a million pieces and turned the floor lemon yellow. The bad part was that this product was also on back order for eight months. That did cause some cuss words come out of my employer's mouth. The floor didn't bother him as much as the fact that he couldn't get anymore for awhile.

Fuzzy

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment