Advice?

[Nurserue]

Hey everyone! First time post on here bc I am having a hard time not taking work home with me. I’ve been a nurse for almost 3 years and I’ve made mistakes and I try hard to learn from them and reflect after I make a mistake. The issue is whenever I make a mistake, big or small, I feel absolutely horrible and think about it constantly for weeks and question if I am a safe nurse. When I make a mistake I try to educate myself after it and do research on how I could have prevented it. But it just seems like I shouldn’t be making simple errors like this and no one else is making errors like this. I talk with my other nurse friends with the same amount of experience and they don’t seem like they are making mistakes. I just want to know is this normal or how you guys deal with making errors because I can’t stop thinking about them for weeks.  It’s gotten to a point where every time I make a mistake I write it down in the notes app and just think of how I should be a better nurse. 
 

any advice is greatly appreciated! :)

[Daisy4RN]

First of all, we all make mistakes bc we are all human. You haven’t mentioned the type of mistakes so I would just caution you to focus on the big mistakes, the ones that will cause harm/the most harm and see what you can do to avoid those (asking questions, time management, prioritizing etc). You have said you are educating yourself as you go and that is good! I would also make sure and ask others prior to doing something you are unfamiliar with, meds, procedures etc. I wouldn’t worry about what others are saying bc you may not be getting a straight answer from them. It is hard to answer without specifics, and I understand why you may not want to, but you would get better answer if you did give specifics. Either way you are only going to hurt yourself if you continue to take this home after work. Try your best while you are there and leave it at work when you leave. You don’t mention any write ups from management so not sure if you have had any. If not then probably nothing to worry about. 
 

[John2018]

What I see in this post is a nurse who cares a lot. You even bother to educate and take note of the errors and what you need to improve on yourself.  Anyways, is there something bothering you at work why can't focus? ALso, don't compare yourself to your friends..that is a rabbit hole..

[HiddenAngels]

What kinds of mistakes are you making? And yes everyone makes mistakes and yes people are probably lying who say they aren’t. Sometimes if I see a situation that could easily become a mistake I take extra time performing the task (ie multiple drips). I’m kind of fast but with these and other similar tasks I definitely take my time. Is what you’re doing related to time mgmt? Are doctors hovering?  Do you run late often?  What circumstances do you find yourself in when you are making said errors?. I’m asking to try and get a feel of what may be causing this. It’s definitely fixable.?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

All of us make mistakes!  Agree with all of the above - focus on big errors.