Blood Administration

Although consent is important these things happen and that doesn't mean you are a failure! I would just go back and add a late entry note stating the pt stated s/he understood the risks v benefits and verbal consent was obtained. Last place I worked we had to double check blood, pt, consent with another nurse and document on the blood sheet, if you both missed it I would definitely be more careful next time, also our consents were only good for a certain amount of days, 5 I think, you may want to check that at your facility, maybe that is what they meant ( maybe you did see one but it was out dated).

Sounds like you handled the day well, I wouldn't worry about it, learn from your mistake (we all make them!) and move on.

It sounds like you had multiple priorities and that happens sometimes to all of us. You received permission from the patient. Look at what you did do: sounds like you gave the right blood without adverse effects. That’s huge! Mistakes happen and incidents happen. Look at it this way - you will likely never miss a written consent again.

Honestly this was my first error as a nurse... many times. In training I never had to administer blood so I never had the process down before being on my own. I'm still here as a nurse to talk about it today. Consents are important in case of legal litigation. I got the pleasure of rolling with Joint Commission on our last survey and they looked at 2 consents and called it good. The likelihood of it affecting your or your organization is very slim.

Thank you all so much! You all have been very helpful. I talked to my unit director and she said it’s okay we all make mistakes sometimes and that I need to not be so hard on myself.