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.