stupid mistake- wanna quit

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm about 10 months away from graduating from nursing school, and ive worked in an emergency room for a couple of years, so i know a thing or two. I dont make mistakes, I dont have room to make mistakes. So last night one of the RN's asked one of our techs to switch this pts iv fluid from potassium to NS and run it in at 800ml/hr. well, he was on his way up to the roof to get a pt coming in from lifeflight and asked me to change the pt in 6's iv pump from 150 to 800/hr. ok- so i ran in there quit while in the middle of doing 50 other things (on a holiday weekend we are swamped with 20 people in the waiting room, rooms and hallways full, and ems coming in with trauma after trauma). i didnt even LOOK at what was hanging. the nurses rarely ever hang K in the ER, it usually waits until they get upstairs for the floor nurses to do. Stupid me. i should have looked and i should have known. Luckily the nurse taking care of that pt. went into the room shortly after and noticed my stupid stupid mistake. I could have easily killed that patient. I am so not worthy to be a nurse now. im afraid that nurse will tell other nurses now and they wont be able to trust me. i am not stupid- and i know that i will make an excellent nurse- but goodness- im feeling pretty worthless right now.

Everyonemakes mistakes...hell after 17 years of doing this I still make mistakes. Also if the bag contained 20 mEq of K+ then even running it at 800 cc/hr would not have killed thepaitent in all likelyhood. We have given partial fills faster than that.

Dave

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Well as least you haven't killed anyone...yet! :coollook:

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thank you all for your encouraging, even empowering, words and advice. I know that I will make an excellent nurse when that day comes. I know Im entitled to my fair share of mistakes, and I know that I will make them. How else am I going to learn! Thanks all.

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Specializes in Home Health Case Mgr.

Hang In There Man. As Previous Quotes Stated, We All Have Made A Mistake And Are Only Human. Delegation Is The Problem Here. Sadly, Too Many Mistakes Happen In The Er Or Icu Because Of The Nature Of The Beast. The Fact That You Brought It To The Table With Remorse Shows You Will Make A Fine Nurse. Keep Up The Studies And Never Give Up.....if You Do, You Only Have Yourself To Blame..........good Luck !!!

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You already know what you did wrong, and after this, you probably won't make that mistake again. Then again, maybe you will. However, I think the most dangerous thing would be for you to walk around feeling as though you are never going to make any mistake again. The ER game is a brutal one. Everything is fast and furious, and sometimes it takes thick skin, not only because of the way we are sometimes treated, but also because of experiences like this one that you are going through. Bottom line, no one should judge you cause I guarantee everyone has made their own mistakes (and im sure some a lot lot worse). Learn from it, alright, beat yourself up about it for a while (cause thats what i do too), then roll your sleeves up and get back to work! Sometimes you just gotta sit back when the whole thing is crashing around you and say "well, the pt is still breathing right? then my job's done" . Please, whatever you do, don't feel youre not going to be a good nurse because of it. After all, we NEED more nurses so badly! YES, I NEED A DAY OFF!!! PLEASE, SOMEONE PASS THE BOARDS SO I CAN HAVE SOME VACATION TIME!!!! Uh, er, sorry bout that. Got a little carried away.... good luck!

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Specializes in Emergency room, med/surg, UR/CSR.
After all, we NEED more nurses so badly! YES, I NEED A DAY OFF!!! PLEASE, SOMEONE PASS THE BOARDS SO I CAN HAVE SOME VACATION TIME!!!! Uh, er, sorry bout that. Got a little carried away.... good luck!

Oh Hack! Good one!!! And don't we ALL feel that way?!?!? :rotfl:

Pam :)

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Eveerybody makes mistakes. If we didn't, we'd all be called God!

You have beaten yourself up enough over this one. File it someplace in your brain to prevent it from happening again and keep moving.

You are doing great!

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

First of all, a tech administering IV fluids? This sounds pretty dicey to me. I'm a tech and it is nowhere in the scope of my practice to touch an IV pump under any circumstance.

Second, a tech delegating to a student also sounds pretty dicey.

It sounds like the game of "post-office" where the message gets changed down the line. Too many cooks in this kitchen.

And we're talking K. I learned my lesson as a student with K. I always double-check labs with my own eyeballs making sure they are the most recent and double-check the order. Don't be hard on yourself. I had a mishap with K that didn't result in any injury to the patient or to my standing as a student. But I learned and now you have too.

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