First Medication Error.....feeling horrible!!

Sorry...that wasn't an error unless there were parameters to not give the lantus. A few posters already stated this too.

I recently read a thread about what makes a good nurse. Not once did anybody mention "never make a med error". What did come up over and over was "compassion". So please have compassion for yourself. If, indeed, it was a med error. I do have a question. Was the LPN struggling too, or did the LPN just take a free ride?

Dear friend,
Your reaction is normal for you are obviously a very responsible and professional nurse who committed her first mistake. It is a fact of life: we all commit mistakes. However, the way you conducted yourself says a lot about you and your commitment to do what is right by your patients. Your emotional state is important for after all you have to go back to work, and in order to be focused on your responsibilities it is important that you be free of your emotions in connection with this accident for your patients need that you be for them feeling emotionally whole. I want to give you the website of Aila Accad, RN which I took from one of the threads I read in this website. I want to share the technique your fellow nurse uses for helping people releasing distracting and unwanted emotions. Her training in this clip is free and very useful. I wish you a long and successful career in nursing. Mistakes keep us humble, but God only keeps us going. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-VDOGqmd4
Best, feliz3

I agree with previous posters. It doesn't sound like it was a med error.

How was this a med error? Did you give the wrong amount of Lantus?

I'm with everyone else,...I would have given the Lantus unless you had specific orders not to.

The only medication error, if there is one in this whole scenario, was not being familiar enough with Lantus to know its role.

I'm re-reading this and trying to figure out what was wrong here- was it the dose? Was it to be adjusted if below a certain number?

Please, go easy on yourself. We all remember a med error or two in our careers. My big one was Decadron- always ordered at 6-2-10. Only this patient started his at 6 PM, not 6 AM, so it was due at 2 AM. I did not give it until 6 AM. I was on nights and got the 6-2-10 thing mixed up! Not a huge deal physically, they changed the schedule of his meds and went forward, but I was a new nurse and I was devastated! This was in the day where you had 1/2 hr before and 1/2 hr after to give the med, now it is usually an hour. So a 4 hour error was a BIG error.

Another time on nights I mixed all my IV's- we mixed our own then, and I had about 36 to hang that night. I passed the meds and made rounds a little later and I looked at the patient's IV label and it did not match his name on the wall! I stood there trembling for a second, terrified- thinking "what have I done? my God, what have I done?". Then I shut off the bag, checked the MAR, and Thank GOD, he was ordered the exact same med. Back then everyone was on Kelfex so I had mixed up the two Keflex patients. I learned why they tell you to check and check again, even when patients are talking to you as you make rounds. Never let anything distract you from that check. It was a real wake up call for me and I was much more careful to match the label with the armband every time.

We all make mistakes, don't beat yourself up about it. However I must say, if you are busy and don't verify a med with the MAR, that med should never be an insulin. Insulin is prone to making errors and can end up killing patients. In time you will recognize these drugs such as insulin, KCl, digoxin. One must come out of autopilot then review the 5 rigths and get a proper double check. Mistakes make us better nurses which is a positive that comes from that.