medication error

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I made a medication error by trying to hurry though med administration to prove that I can handle the job, I do not know what to do I caught the error, and reported it, and the patient is fine but I cannot sleep, I am worried about not only losing my job but also my license. The essence of the situation is that I had room numbers mixed up and gave insulin for the wrong room not wrong patient (it was her insulin just more given), in my hurry I quickly by passed the message that showed the accu check amount on that patient.

Editorial Team / Moderator

Lunah, MSN, RN

14 Articles; 13,766 Posts

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

So what valuable lessons did you learn from this?

Anonymous865

483 Posts

I made a medication error by trying to hurry though med administration to prove that I can handle the job, I do not know what to do I caught the error, and reported it, and the patient is fine but I cannot sleep, I am worried about not only losing my job but also my license. The essence of the situation is that I had room numbers mixed up and gave insulin for the wrong room not wrong patient (it was her insulin just more given), in my hurry I quickly by passed the message that showed the accu check amount on that patient.

Regarding worrying about losing your license -

When I joined AN, it seemed like people were constantly posting that they were worried about losing their license, so I decided to look at why nurses lose their license. The BON in my state publishes every month a report on actions taken by the BON - sanctions, suspensions, and revocations. I looked at several years of reports.

I did not find a single instance where the BON took any action against a nurse for a medication error. Not a single one.

I did find cases where the BON revoked a license because the healthcare worker made a medication error and then falsified documentation to cover up the error. The rules the BON cited for taking action were for 1) falsification of documentation 2) not taking action to prevent harm to the patient after they made the error 3) unethical practice (lying)

I can't tell you what action your employer will take.

The BON is NOT going to revoke your license for a single medication error.

VAMPRISS1973

11 Posts

check and double check even if you are in a hurry, I believe my problem actually is time management, I keep being told that I have to hurry. Scan medications individually then open, ( I have always done this in the past but was told it takes too much time) either way I do not feel supported by my manager or my preceptors who are great nurses but I am new to a completely different unit and system, and they expect me to know everything. They say if I am having trouble ask questions, but again the feedback is you are still asking a lot of questions. I want to cry,throw up, I am so scared!!!! Even if I reported the error right away I feel horrible, I ALWAYS want the best for my patients.

WinterLilac

168 Posts

Specializes in Psychiatric.

99.9% of nurses make a medication error at some point in their career. The 0.1% who say they haven't are lying.

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