Most embarrassing mistake you've ever made

07302003, ASN, RN · Dec 6, 2009

Putting OTIC gtts in the OPTICS. Yikes.

KY RN · Dec 6, 2009

I hung a new bag of IV fluids. It kept beeping. I couldn't figure out why. The pt said to me,"It might help if you connect the tubing to the IV site in my hand." Duh!!!:imbar

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · Dec 6, 2009

Just for fun. What the most embarrassing mistake you've made in your nursing career? (I'm not talking about sentinel events, please keep those to yourself.)
Well, here goes: Maybe two weeks into my orientation in ICU, I'm going to administer some med via a PEG tube. The PEG is buried beneath gown, sheet and blankets and I finally find the Lopez valve. The patient is receiving tube feeding also. I turn the stopcock on the Lopez valve, try to administer the med with the syringe . . . it won't go in . . . I push a little harder . . . still won't go in . . . one more push and suddenly, the tubing on the Kangaroo pump disconnects and showers me with Jevity!! I had turned the stopcock off to the patient and being new I didn't notice which side was the PEG and which side had the feeding tube!!
I looked around quickly and saw my preceptor standing there, bent over laughing!! Thankfully, the patient was sedated, so he couldn't join in.

I did that exact same thing. UGH, it went into my eyes and my mouth, I thought Id die. It was STICKY. I had to wash my face and take out my contact lenses. So dont feel bad, been there done that too. It went all over the wall too. When housekeeping came into the room to clean it, I heard them saying.."omg its even on the *&(# wall, what the *(&** is that!" I just kept walking and never said a word.

shoegalRN, RN · Dec 6, 2009

I was giving a pt a Lactulose enema via a rectal tube and didnt squeeze all the air out of the syringe. Needless to say, it went all over me, the pt, and the bed. Good thing he was in a coma. My preceptor laughed her butt off at me. I had to walk around smelling like Lactulose all night.

Also when changing an IV bag, I just pulled the tubing from the bag as it hung on the pole instead of removing the bag from the pole and holding it upright. It went everywhere, all over me and the floor.

When changing out tubing for Mannitol, it splashed all over my face, scrubs, and shoes. Had to walk around with white stains on my scrubs all night.

When turning a pt, he had an active bowel movement and it squirted on the sleeve of my lab coat. Good thing I could take off the jacket.

Boy, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who makes little crazy mistakes LOL!

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2009

I was doing a head to toe assessment on a 27yr old male, when I palpated his abdomen I found it to be hard I asked him how long his stomach had been so firm all the while pressing softly on his stomach to see if it was tender, I asked about his bowels etc when I realised he worked out and he had a 'six pack'!!! His stomach was firm because he had muscles and I normally look after people who have large tummys and my hand sinks in LOL. I removed my hand from said stomach and I left the room with a very red face-I am an older nurse and had honestly believed after 20yrs nothing could embarress me anymore. I could hear him laughing as I went down the corridor

MedSurgeMess · Dec 6, 2009

About 15 minutes before the end of my shift once, I discovered that one of my patient's feeding tubes had migrated up out of his esopagus and was curled in his mouth. I pulled the tube, informed the MD, inserted another, and called for PCXR to confirm placement. In my haste to finish everything before I had to give report, I made a charting mistake. Using our computer charting system I charted, "Tube found coiled in mouth" etc... . Unfortunately I had accidentally clicked on the box for "FOLEY" catheter instead of feeding tube. The oncoming nurse found this so amusing (foley found coiled in mouth!) that she printed out my charting and circulated it to everyone on day shift in both ICUs. So humiliating.

Now that would be a HIPAA violation......but funny though!

MedSurgeMess · Dec 6, 2009

I did almost the same thing. Told a double amputee that I had to check his pedal pulses, pulled up the covers and, I was like . . . . where are his feet? When I realized my faux pas, I apologized and made a quick exit. You probably could have roasted marshmellows with the heat from my red face!!

I actually had a paraplegic, and the nurse forgot to mention in report, but was written small on report sheet. MD told me she needed to ambulate, and was refusing everyone else--I was new, so they were just trying to get to me--and I went and was trying to get this gal out of bed. I kept trying to "teach" her the benefits of ambulation, etc. Finally, she told me her condition. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Nowadays when I see her, she asks me if I'm ready to take her for that drag down the hall. Luckily, she thought it was funny too!

Halinja, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2009

It was my first couple of weeks on my own in Labor and Delivery and the patient had delivered. The doc wanted the bag of LR swapped out with a bag that had pitocin in it. I knew we wanted it done quickly, to prevent excess bleeding. This was a doc that made me nervous on any given day anyway. So I quickly grabbed the tubing and yanked it out of the nearly full bag of LR...that was still hanging near the patient's head. Sigh. LR showered the head of the bed, a little bit of the patient, and totally soaked me. Luckily, both the patient and the doc thought it was funny. In fact the doc was laughing so hard he almost fell off the stool.

sunnycalifRN · Dec 6, 2009

It was my first couple of weeks on my own in Labor and Delivery and the patient had delivered. The doc wanted the bag of LR swapped out with a bag that had pitocin in it. I knew we wanted it done quickly, to prevent excess bleeding. This was a doc that made me nervous on any given day anyway. So I quickly grabbed the tubing and yanked it out of the nearly full bag of LR...that was still hanging near the patient's head. Sigh. LR showered the head of the bed, a little bit of the patient, and totally soaked me. Luckily, both the patient and the doc thought it was funny. In fact the doc was laughing so hard he almost fell off the stool.

I've done a similar thing, too!! On transport to CT with a patient with an art line, when moving the patient from the bed to the table, the pressure bag disconnected and it gave me and my patient a high pressure shower of saline . . . it was rather refreshing, actually!!

emnicams · Dec 6, 2009

I was hanging blood on a patient and had already spiked the bag. I went to hang it on the IV pole and had trouble getting the slit in the top to open so that it would hang. Somehow the thing came unspiked and gave me and the floor a blood shower. It looked like a massacre in there. The good part is that OxiClean actually got that mess out of my scrubs!

I told my clinical manager, who came in to help me clean the floor... I have a special talent of making any task that would usually take 10 minutes, into one that takes 45. And it's true! lol.

sunnycalifRN · Dec 6, 2009

I was hanging blood on a patient and had already spiked the bag. I went to hang it on the IV pole and had trouble getting the slit in the top to open so that it would hang. Somehow the thing came unspiked and gave me and the floor a blood shower. It looked like a massacre in there. The good part is that OxiClean actually got that mess out of my scrubs!
I told my clinical manager, who came in to help me clean the floor... I have a special talent of making any task that would usually take 10 minutes, into one that takes 45. And it's true! lol.

Hahaha! That's a new grad talent, didn't notice if you're a new grad or not.

Here's another blood story: I didn't do this . . . I really didn't . . . but a colleague did so I'm going to relate the story . . . . she's drawing blood cultures from a patient that is a very hard stick, but she was able to get 20 cc's although it took several minutes . . . when she went to transfer the blood into the culture bottle, of course, it had clotted and wouldn't flow into the bottle. So, instead of squirting the clot into a 4x4 and trying again . . . she started applying more and more pressure on the syringe . . . the syringe disconnected from the safety transfer device and sprayed blood, nozzle-like, in a 360 degree pattern around the room . . . CSI Grissom would have said "Hmmm, arterial spray pattern". It really looked like a crime scene in there . . . patient sprayed with blood, nurse sprayed with blood, room sprayed with blood. She wasn't a happy camper!! :eek:

corky1272RN · Dec 6, 2009

I did almost the same thing. Told a double amputee that I had to check his pedal pulses, pulled up the covers and, I was like . . . . where are his feet? When I realized my faux pas, I apologized and made a quick exit. You probably could have roasted marshmellows with the heat from my red face!!

You can make a joke about the pulses being hard to find...I guarantee you will get a laugh. :yeah: