Almost fired for med error

[mellybelly27]

I've been a nurse for nearly 9 years now, working in ER, Urgent care and NICU. A couple days ago I was working my shift in the ER and I accidentally gave a patient oxy/acetaminophen instead of hydro/acetaminophen. I told the charge nurse and the Dr right away. The Dr made no big deal and changed the order. The patient was fine, thankfully. I did an incident report and talked to my director. This went up to the CNO and she wanted me fired! My director went to bat for me and I'm now on probation for 90 days. I have no history of write ups, unprofessional behavior, NOTHING. I'm so upset over this and just don't want to go to work anymore. Feel like I'm walking on eggshells now and that's not good when you're working in the ER. I'm looking for a new job but that might look even worse. Any input would be appreciated. I don't know what to do.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Hugs. I'm sorry you are going through this experience. ~9 years in ER with zero writeups and a mistake shouldn't equal this type of treatment.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

We didn't have to write it up if the doc wrote the order for it. Sorry you are being treated like that. As if the DON never made a med error. RIGHT.

[Sour Lemon]

It's lovely stories like these that make me reluctant to write up any medication error where a patient is not harmed or in danger of being harmed.

[mellybelly27]

Exactly Sour Lemon

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Wow. That sucks. I am sorry you are being treated so badly.

[Swellz]

Your CNO sounds like a turd.

I mean I get it, you made an error, but you made an error, caught it right away, self-reported, the doc changed the order... termination just seems like a gross overreaction.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Wow, that response seems extremely disproportionate to what needed to happen, which was at best a review of policies to ensure there were appropriate safe guards in place and that they were being followed.

[crazin01]

Glad you have a great director to speak up for you, as well as the nice ER doc who said no biggie. Management can make or break the unit/floor.

9 years with an awesome work history is no easy feat. Hopefully the CNO comes around and realizes it's better to have a nurse admit a mistake and report it and learn from it. Versus one who would've not reported it, or even realize they goofed. Hearing/being made aware of the disciplinary action taken against employees is why other employees will not report in the future.

Hopefully the probation period goes quickly.

[Boomer MS, RN]

I really have to wonder who in his/her right mind would recommend termination for what you describe. Yikes....Thank goodness commonsense minds, especially your Director's, came through. And I would want to ask the CNO, "What are you thinking? How did you come to this conclusion?" "Take me through your thought process." In my heart..."Have you EVER worked as a clinical nurse in healthcare? I mean really worked at the bedside?"

You've gotten a lot of support here for good reason. I was on a pharmacy committee years ago when we reviewed incident reports, among other things. There was discussion then about fear of reporting errors, which maybe reflected the low number of reports on some units, and that was 2001-2002. I thought we had come a long way since then. Perhaps not, at least in some institutions.

[Cola89]

I wonder if there's any way you could go beyond the CNO's head to explain your case to? I know the feeling of walking on eggshells and not wanting to go into work - because you've been treated badly - and like the wind has been knocked out of your sails. A lot of us empathize with you for our own reasons. ((hugs))

[mellybelly27]

Thank you all so much! It definitely makes me feel better knowing I have support from other nurses