My patient thinks I'm incompetent. Should I care?

[RNpatterson]

The short story is I gave my patient an insulin injection that apparently hurt and resulted in a bruise. He reported this to a nurse on the next shift, and added that it seemed like I didn't know what I was doing and that I used the wrong needle (which is kind of impossible to do with insulin syringes since the needle is attached). This resulted in an email to my clinical instructor who then had to talk to me about it. I didn't actually do anything wrong so it was easy to clarify and explain what happened.... not a big deal.

The part that is bothering me is that I can't explain to my patient that he was wrong and why he was wrong. Half of me is trying to let it go knowing I'm dealing with very sick patients who are experiencing all kinds of crazy confused emotions and it really doesn't matter but the other half of me is really upset because I don't want my patients to think I'm incompetent. It's very frustrating when you know you can't "clear the air" when there's a misunderstanding. To make matters worse, this was my first patient EVER! Am I silly to let this bother me?

[FrazzledButBlessed]

I LOVE clients that are jokers. I've had several who will let out a big yelp with a glucoscan. It makes me jump, breaks the ice and we have a good laugh. Those are the best kinds of patients (for me, anyways. I love laughter, it IS a medicine for the soul)