forgot to flush iv

[big apple]

Im a nursing student. I know that you're always supposed to flush iv before and after iv infusion. Yesterday in clinical, i totally forgot to flush the patient's line before infusing the med. I realized that i made a mistake during the infusion. Now i feel horrible and really guilty. Do you nurses make these stupid mistakes?

[all4schwa]

For months people would ask randomly "did you ever find that tpn you were looking for that time?"

:roll:rotfl::roll

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Im a nursing student. I know that you're always supposed to flush iv before and after iv infusion. Yesterday in clinical, i totally forgot to flush the patient's line before infusing the med. I realized that i made a mistake during the infusion. Now i feel horrible and really guilty. Do you nurses make these stupid mistakes?

We all make little mistakes so please do not be hard on yourself. What worries me most is as a student nurse why were you on your own giving IV meds, I was under the impression you should be doing this under supervision of an RN and ultimatly it was their mistake and not yours

[big apple]

A nurse was actually with me while i was doing this. At the time, the patient had a lot of visitors, which i think contributed to me forgetting to flush. The Rn probably got distracted too that she didn't remind me or maybe she remembered but didn't remind me because she didn't want to embarass me in front of the patient/family? (Which i dont care because i'd rather they tell me that i'm doing something wrong and i wouldn't be embarrassed at all).

[TrudyRN]

thanks alot everyone. I feel ok now, but i still bugs me out whenever i think about it.

I know we are dealing with lives and I know we must be as close to perfect as possible but somehow it rubs me the wrong way that a student or anyone would stress about an error that appears to have had no ill effect.

I wonder if those who decide to deny care to their fellow humans feel as badly. Uh, the answer would be "no".

[FlyingScot, RN]

The flush prior to IV administration is just to verify a patent access; so you don't infuse an irritant into an infiltrated site.

I'm pretty sure that's not exactly correct. Although checking line patency is always important, flushing prior to administering a medication is also done to clear the line of whatever IV fluid is running. Not all meds are compatible with Dextrose and other additives in maintainance fluid but most are compatible with NS. Also patency and infiltration are not really the same animal. Infiltration should mainly be assessed by looking at the site. You can have a patent but infiltrated line if the area where the line was placed is expandible like the AC. Not trying to jump all over you just expanding on what you've learned:wink2:

As to the OP. Chin up! You're learning. If you put this much pressure on yourself now you'll surely be nuts by graduation. I can pretty safely say there are only two kinds of nurses on this forum...the ones who have made a mistake and the ones who are going to. What you did was minor but a great learning experience. As for the preceptor who was not watching you closely:nono: