Blood Administration

[Anon24, BSN]

So the other day I received an email that I had not completed a blood consent form before administering blood. I thought I had saw one in the pt chart but it apparently was for something else. I got consent verbally from the pt and the pt knew what I was doing. No harm was done to the pt. It was a very busy day. I had one pt crashing and ended up having to upgrade them to the ICU and this pt’s hgb was 6.5. Meds overdue, constant phone calls, call bells all around, I asked for help about three times before someone helped me. I felt like I was drowning. I just need some advice. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? I’m so full of anxiety and feel like I’m not cut out for this job, like a failure.

[Daisy4RN]

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.

[speedynurse, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

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.

[buckchaser10]

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.

[Anon24, BSN]

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.