Am I unsafe to practice?

Nurses Safety

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I made some mistakes and was told I am unsafe to practice medication administration. I'll add that I am a new nurse with 1 year experience in LTC.

I gave a prn medication too early coinciding with a sceduled med per facility policy. Then I did not give a lovenox shot due to waiting for pharmacy to deliver it but should have gotten it from the E-box in the meantime.

I was told that LTC is probably not for me and given my previous former background in my 1st career in accounting that I might be better off suited for a medical administrative position rather than bedside nursing.

I made these mistakes all in one weekend of work. However at my previous LPN job of 9 months being brand new I never made a mistake. I am grateful that my mistakes did not harm the patients but can I continue to be a nurse? How could I have done this and do these mistakes really make me unsafe?

Advice would be appreciated seeing as my confindence is quite shaken at this point and I'm hurt over being told these things.

mistakes happen. as long as you learn from them, and try your best to not repeat them, you should be fine. i started out in ltc. we had 2 nurses on night shift, with 46-50 residents per nurse. now....you show me a nurse who has never made a mistake with staffing ratio's like that. keep your head up. also.....nurses eat their young. nurses who are "long in the tooth" tend to devour younger, newly graduated nurses. it's a rite of passage. once you earn their trust and loyalty, you will never experience such camaraderie. granted, lovenox is pretty important, especially in ltc and for pt’s with decreased activity, you don’t want clots forming! remember...”if it isn’t in the med cart check your e-kit. if it’s not there, then you may have to borrow”. now that i have progressed in my education and certifications, i work er and medical surgical for critical access hospitals. my learning experiences as a ltc nurse have played a large role in where i am today.

benjamin, lpnii, chlpn, msc, wcc-vswc

These comments have been particularly helpful to me tonight. I work for an agency that sent me to a LTC facility for a shift another nurse left. they called me at 11:00 the night before to ask if I would cove the 7-3 shift. I told them I had no LTC experience. They told me that I would receive orientation and help. Well that didn't happen. It was horrible and I know that I didn't and couldn't do that med pass the way it should have been done. They even told me they knew I would not be able to do it yet no help was offered. There were so many bad, bad situations and critical situations that day. I just wanted to leave and I will never go back there. I've been feeling like I should never have gone to school to get my LPN, because there are not that many options for LPN's other than LTC. I am 61 and I've been working in the medical field in some capacity since I was 15 years old. I started in the hopsital where my mother worked as a RN. I was a volunteer and then later a CNA and on and on. It's been a long tough road for me and I thought when I got my LPN at age 59 that I would be able to work as a licnsed nurse for once and actually be paid for being a nurse. Anyway this has been very helpful.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

OP - please please don't be so hard on yourself. Being let go for your errors was a very harsh decision.Nurses make mistakes.We've have all done it.Your mistakes didn't harm anyone and you learned from the mistakes.Don't feel you are in any way an "unsafe"nurse.

Chin up.You have a long career ahead of you.Don't let this get to you.

These comments have been particularly helpful to me tonight. I work for an agency that sent me to a LTC facility for a shift another nurse left. they called me at 11:00 the night before to ask if I would cove the 7-3 shift. I told them I had no LTC experience. They told me that I would receive orientation and help. Well that didn't happen. It was horrible and I know that I didn't and couldn't do that med pass the way it should have been done. They even told me they knew I would not be able to do it yet no help was offered. There were so many bad, bad situations and critical situations that day. I just wanted to leave and I will never go back there. I've been feeling like I should never have gone to school to get my LPN, because there are not that many options for LPN's other than LTC. I am 61 and I've been working in the medical field in some capacity since I was 15 years old. I started in the hopsital where my mother worked as a RN. I was a volunteer and then later a CNA and on and on. It's been a long tough road for me and I thought when I got my LPN at age 59 that I would be able to work as a licnsed nurse for once and actually be paid for being a nurse. Anyway this has been very helpful.

I'm going to sound harsh but did you really think you'd walk into a "dream" job at the age of 59? Did you research the job market in your agrea to see where LPNs are employed?

These are all reason I tell mature posters to think long and hard about nursing school. I'm 53 and have maybe five more years in me to nurse. It's hard mentally and physically and I don't work LTC. The thought of doing it at my age scares me. I've told my husband I'd work in our local coffee shop before doing LTC.

"Fiona59" You don't sound harsh, you sound truthful. I lost the idea of a dream job a long time ago, but I have no choice but to work as long as I can. I work in a physician's office 5 days a week and do the agency work on the week ends. I was doing hopsice crisis care 12 hour shifts on the weekends and physically that was easier, but the agency lost the contract, so it was on to other things. I wish I didn't have to do what I do, because the work load is heavy. I need to find a way to work as long as I can and in a good situation. Surely there are other older nurses having to continue to work. And you are so right - now LTC scares me to death and I am afraid to try it again anywhere. I feel I need more experience outside the physician's office, because as you probably know that experience is limited. So I am looking at all options even a local coffee shop. Unfortuantley right now my confidence has been shot down and I don't even feel I could do that. Thank you for your insight and the truth. I feel a lot of empathy for Need2Care because it takes a lot to go right back after the loss of that confidence. I feel the place I was sent to knew about my lack of experience, and if they truly wanted help from the agency they should have been compliant about the orientation and perhaps put a more experienced nurse on that med cart expespecially since the nurse the day before walked out because of it. That's why they were seeking agency help. But I did what I did, I didn't ababndon the job and it was definately a learning experience. And I know that physically it was almost more than I could do. I was pretty tired and sick when I got home, or maybe it's just sick and tired.

Oh BTW although most of my classmates were younger, one of my classmates was 70 when she graduated and another was 56. The older one works in drug rehab and the other works in LTC. The one that works in LTC is overwhelmed and wants to get out, but right now she has no other choice either. She needs the experience. That was the only job she could get after she graduated. So I actually feel fortunant because I've been at my full time job in the physician's office now for 25 years. I do think that older nurses have a lot more compassion for the LTC patients because they realize that that's where they could be very soon. But we do have a great disadvantage physically.

nurselabrat, if your agency does block time homecare, try that, BUT carefully check out a case before you accept it!

It seems unnecessarily harsh for them to fire you for a early PRN pill and a late lovenox. Was the resident snowed from getting the PRN too close to his scheduled?

Something dosent add up. I doubt they would have a big meeting involving the pharmacist and everyone over two minor errors. Either somebody there has a personal agenda against you, or you've made other, more serious mistakes.

Specializes in PCU.

Keep your chin up and good luck w/the job search. We all make mistakes and learn from them. The only nurses unsafe to be nurses are those that do not own up to their mistakes and do not learn from them.

As to the interviews, you can be truthful. The last place was a bad fit and you are looking for a place where you can learn and grow as a nurse and be an asset to your employer and a boon to your patients.

Good luck and God bless.

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