Do all nurses make fatal mistakes?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a nursing student and today one of my fellow students was telling me how she expects to make a mistake in her career that will lead to a patient's death. She then said every person she knows in the medical field has made a fatal mistake at some point.

I have heard over and over again that every nurse will make a med error, but is it true that every nurse will make a fatal error?

Are the any experienced nurses that can shed some light on this?

Thanks,

Concerned/suddenly terrified student

depends what you mean by "fatal". and then again depends on how broad your spectrum of "mistake" is.

every nurse will make a med error. will it lead to a patients death? not all. probably not.

every nurse will make a bad nursing judgment. will it lead to a patients death? again probably not, although i find this to be a more likely situation.

unless its a direct kind of...sentinel event situation, its hard to say where the buck got dropped between rotation of care among nurses, so its hard for any one nurse to take blame for any one situation or outcome.

but mistakes will happen. its up to you to be prudent enough to not allow the really bad ones to fall through the cracks.

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Specializes in ER.

I've made an error that could have killed my patient, but we pulled her through.

About every five years I hear of a mistake, and the patient ends up dying, though there's usually other factors leading to the death.

Only once have I heard of a mistake that directly caused a death. The provider was visibly shattered for weeks. One of those times when you could look at someone and see the pain in their face.

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Specializes in CEN.

Oh dear. Still in nursing school and already your buddy is planning on killing someone. That's a really dangerous attitude. If I thought I would be killing a patient during the course of my career I wouldn't have become a nurse.

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So, your friend expects to kill someone, and is on with that? That is what is most concerning to me.

Most nurses do not make fatal errors. They are few and far between.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Oh dear. Still in nursing school and already your buddy is planning on killing someone.

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I have only 3 years experience. I made a few medicine errors but all were harmless, not even close to fatal. Its not that easy to kill patient unless you work in ICU and overdose very potent drug.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
She then said every person she knows in the medical field has made a fatal mistake at some point.

Let's just stay away from every person she knows in the medical field.

It's like the Winter I was 19 years old and had a recently healed comminuted fracture of my R femur. A friend asked me to go sledding with him.

I said, "I just broke my leg in three places!"

"Well", he advised, "Just stay out of those places!"

Are the any experienced nurses that can shed some light on this?

Well, I have found out it is more difficult to kill Patients in Psych.

That's why just about anybody can work in Psych.

Concerned/suddenly terrified student

In all sincerity, justtyintonurse, I hope you've gotten the message that fatalities do happen in nursing, but unlike what your friend has said, fatal mistakes are not a common occurrence.

And I hope you realize that I was not making fun of you.

I was merely having fun near you.

The very best to you, justtryintonurse!

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Well, I've been in nursing over 30 years -- I've made my share of med and other errors, but I haven't killed anyone yet.

Must second what elkpark said, but add... I saved a lot more.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

40+ years, haven't even come close to what your classmate is describing. He/ she is an idiot.

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If your first job as a new grad is on a unit where there is a high turnover in nursing staff and most nurses are novices or advanced beginners (as defined by Benner's novice to expert theory), then the chances will be greater that there will be poorer patient outcomes, greater incidence of mistakes and failure to rescue patients. If your first job is on a stable unit that has a mixture of staff who are advanced beginners, competent, proficient,and/or at the expert levels in their practice, then the chances are better that you will be make fewer mistakes, learn when to recognize signs that the patient is deteriorating and needs intervention and have better patient outcomes.

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I've been doing this 38 years, all in CVICU/Open Heart. Never killed anybody yet nor do I expect to. I'm not out here to kill them, nor am I stupid enough to do accidentally.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Please don't listen to your classmate.

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