All of us at one time or another have seen or heard of a nurse doing the most idiotic or blatantly stupid thing that goes against our grain of "good nursing". What's the worst you've ever heard? Here's one for you:
At a LTC where I worked, (this was LONG ago...) we had one nurse on 3-11 shift that all the other nurses kept complaining about because it was "common knowledge" that she always gave her 4 pm meds with her 8 pm meds. Of course, I never actually saw this happen and rarely ever worked with this woman. However, no one else would dare to approach this nurse as she had worked there "forever", and always got her way with whatever she wanted. She would leave the building and not clock out for her breaks, and spend a couple of hours at Walmart then return to work. I was told once that a family member approached her about a resident who thought was having a heart attack and this nurse told them "I'm not her nurse, you need to inform someone else"....this while she sat at the nurses desk filing her nails. Anyhow, one evening our DON just "happened" to check this nurses med cart...and guess what. Supposedly, all the 8pm meds had already been given (or at least they weren't in the med cards) Needless to say, she doesn't work there anymore. Actually, I believe she retired!!!
I don't understand how some nurses can be so PLAINLY unprofessional - not even attempt to hide it! EDIT: Just a reminder, this is what I had heard, not what I had witnessed. Had I witnessed anything close to this you better believe I would be on the phone with someone...and fast!!!
we have an article hanging in our breakroom about a patient who was being air flighted. they were using the CLAVE IV tubing system. during the flight, the patient was hooked up to O2--- the o2 was hooked to the central line tubing clave system somehow, and the patient died of an air embolus. scary, huh?
OK since we're sharing stories of stupid mistakes...I failed to well secure the cuffed air line to my intubated pt's ETT when I was a young nurse and 'shaved' my patient AND his airway seal...LOL...luckily I had an experienced RT on duty who had a patch kit so we didn't have to reintubate. (whew) I never lived this booboo down though and I'm still teased about it by those in the know. After that, I always tape my airline securely to the tube and occlude it so my razor doesn't have a chance of nicking it even if my patient moves suddenly.
As I read these posts it makes me even more depressed because reading about these " NOT SO BRIGHT" nurses who I am sure passed the boards on the first try and here I am, a person w/more than a clue and just found out I failed. I tell you sometimes life is just not fair.
Three of the best floor nurses I've ever known failed their boards the first time. The tests do not necessarily assess your common sense, people skills, dexterity, etc. Don't give up. See if you can target the areas where you're weak. Good luck.
Specializes in Gen Surg, Peds, family med, geriatrics.
Telling on oneself can be quite cathartic...:imbar
After a few questions I discovered she HADN'T REMOVED the 2 INCH LONG BLUE PLASTIC CAP!! A quick KUB...yep, there it is on the X-ray...here's your 2nd enema...
Moral of the story? Anyone? :imbar :chuckle :imbar :chuckle
Gee, my dad did that to himself once. Had to give himself a Fleet and just about burst the bottle trying to squeeze the contents out. It wasn't until he pulled the bottle out and looked at the tip that he realized he forgot to take the cap off. :imbar :rotfl:
As I read these posts it makes me even more depressed because reading about these " NOT SO BRIGHT" nurses who I am sure passed the boards on the first try and here I am, a person w/more than a clue and just found out I failed. I tell you sometimes life is just not fair.
You don't know that, now do you? NOt everyone voluntarily admits to such things.
I'm sorry about the boards. I know you don't want to hear this, but you will do it .
i worked in a hospital that was being sued. the nurse mistook the central line for the ngt and gave the patient pepto bismul, surprise, the patient coded.
another nurse in another hospital put maalox into the balloon of the ett instead of the ngt.
i would love to know what it is about ngt's that some nurses keep mistaking other types of tubes for them???
i don't know about you guys, but where i work, there's no mistaking any of these tubes. and my theory is, when in doubt, follow the line to the entry site of the patient
i don't know about you guys, but where i work, there's no mistaking any of these tubes. and my theory is, when in doubt, follow the line to the entry site of the patient
were these new nurses???
i was very stunned by some of the stories i've read. are these stories real and did it really happen? did these nurses who made these mistakes lose their license or are they still practicing nursing?
Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.
I had been out of school for a couple of years (still a pretty "new" nurse in my book) when we had a couple of new RNs join our unit. One of them was scary-she was dangerous. Two incidents come to mind: one I saw and one I was told about. The first one, I was waiting for report from her and she was reporting off to another nurse-this patient had an order for IVF with 40 mEq of potassium, which she had infusing, WIDE OPEN. Our hospital policy was that any medication with an additive-potassium, heparin, pitocin-was to be on an infusion pump. She had it on a dial a flow and it was running on open. We had to put that patient on telemetry and do EKGs q 8 hours, but thankfully he wasn't harmed. She was "reprimanded". The other incident I was told about, but didn't witness: We had a lot of HD patients with Vas Caths-we are not to touch them unless they have a pigtail on them, and then we treat it as a central line port or we try to start a peripheral line. This particular patient had a vas cath without a pigtail and we could not get a line on her, so her doc told us we could use one port of her vas cath for IV antibiotics. We had to "unload" the line before use (withdraw at least 3 cc's of blood due to the fact it was loaded with 10,000 units of heparin) and load it back after we infused the medications with 10,000 units of heparin. The patient knew we were to unload before even flushing before starting the med. Well, one night this particular nurse did not unload-she pushed that 10,000 units on through. The patient told her "you're doing it wrong!" This nurse told her "I'm the nurse...I know what I am doing. You just be quiet." :uhoh21: The patient complained of course and was very upset. Again, this nurse was "reprimanded" and left our facility after that. Thankfully, no harm was done to the lady. But if she is still practicing, I am scared for her patients.
I had an incident myself. It is common sense if you are hanging an IVPB to get air out of the line isn't it? Well, I was in the hospital for a severe post-op infection and on numerous IV antibiotics. There were 2 antibiotics that were infused at the same time as they were compatible-which was ok with me. One night, one of the nurses came in and hung the one on the pump and the other was going on by gravity (sort of) to a distal port. I was talking with my husband and waiting on her to prime the line, connect and go on as I was about to go to sleep-she never checked the line for air. I noticed this 5 inch long piece of air and mention it-she said she didn't see it. So she does her thing and as soon as she leaves, I go to the bathroom and unhook it and prime it myself. I never reported it, but was scared to death anytime she was on duty and it was time for my IVPBs.
This sort of a funny story. A student that was in our clinical class when i was in nsg school, was told to give a fleets enema to her patient. The patient never had a enema, she opened the box and gave it to the patient, they thought it was great it came with it's own attached straw, the patient was told to drink it. Thankgod nothing happened to the patient but an upset stomach, but another addage with please know your 5 administration rights nursing students!
This sort of a funny story. A student that was in our clinical class when i was in nsg school, was told to give a fleets enema to her patient. The patient never had a enema, she opened the box and gave it to the patient, they thought it was great it came with it's own attached straw, the patient was told to drink it. Thankgod nothing happened to the patient but an upset stomach, but another addage with please know your 5 administration rights nursing students!
this didn't involve medications, but it remeinded me of something funny that happened when I was a nursing student: I was doing a clinical at a physician's office and the doctor was looking up the patients nose with a otoscope- he then gave me the scope to look. So, I looked (not really seeing anything cause I was so nervous). Afterwards, I put the scope back in the base and turned to look at the patient who was sitting on the exam table and the little black temporary sheath was hanging out her nose!!!!
You don't know that, now do you? NOt everyone voluntarily admits to such things.
I agree. Some of these stories are life threatening, some less so.Those here who have shared their own mistakes do so in a spirit of learning and the knowledge that none here is perfect. Yes there are some bad nurses out there, but many good nurses who occasionally made a booboo and learn. We all hope nobody is harmed by a mistake...that is the worst thing that can happen to a nurse who cares.
jeepgirl, LPN, NP
851 Posts
we have an article hanging in our breakroom about a patient who was being air flighted. they were using the CLAVE IV tubing system. during the flight, the patient was hooked up to O2--- the o2 was hooked to the central line tubing clave system somehow, and the patient died of an air embolus. scary, huh?