Discouraged

[LPN197538]

Hello, everyone :) I'm new to the forum. I came here to vent my frustration. Hopefully, this will be read by someone who has experienced something similar.

I'll get right to it. 4 years ago I made a huge and careless mistake for which I was fired for (deservedly so) and I have not been able to live it down. No action has ever been taken against my license fortunately, but whenever I am asked in an interview "Why did you leave I have to say I was fired and explain the reason. It's extremely difficult rehashing this over and over and over again. I learned my lesson.

Brace yourself. I had removed meds from the narc box and lost track of the medicine. A dementia patient got a hold of an entire bottle of narcotic pain meds that was intended for another patient. I verified the count immediately and noted the count was correct, thankfully. But it was too late and the damage was done. Even though the patient had not ingested any of the med, it was negligence on my part.

I've since worked another nursing job (fortunately-but only because they hired me on the spot asking me very few questions. Was my first clue that the place was a hell hole) but it's just to get me by. I get so angry after interviews because I'm condescended to after I tell them about the experience. Professionally speaking the least they could do is at least TRY to contain their shock and dismay just to be courteous. I might as well have committed a felony or confessed shooting up heroin.

Fortunately, I've been offered a job in the 'medical field' because I'm a nurse. The downside is that the wage is unbelievably low, even for a new grad and I've been nursing for 12 years. I now feel like I'll never get a decent paying job again or have much to look forward to. I am SO grateful to start a new job that isn't minimum wage and so disappointed at the same time.

Any positivity and optimism is welcome and very appreciated.

Thanks :)

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

"I made a medication error that did not reach the patient, therefore caused no patient harm". "Because of this, I am extremely mindful of locking the medication cart every time".

We all make errors. I would not get into a great deal of details other than what happend, and what you learned from it.

The general theme now a days is to get the most experienced nurses for the lowest amount possible. A number of LPN's with multiple years experience in another company are now back to min. wage when looking for a new position. A number of new grads are not working at all.

Good luck to you in your endevours.

[LPN197538]

Samj...attempting to kick someone when their down with condescending comments says a lot about you. Try jumping off the judgey bandwagon sometime. You better knock on wood because your med error is just around the corner.

JANELPN...Excellent advice and suggestions. Thanks for taking the time :)

[LPN197538]

Thanks for commenting and leaving positive things to say :)

[LPN197538]

See below.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Moving forward practice a dialogue, something along the lines of "I made a med error that did not have a negative outcome for the patient and I have learned (fill in the blank). I learned in LTC to never ever set a full med cup down, no matter what. If a resident has fallen or is coding then throw the meds away. For narcotics administration we have multiple steps to perform, never let yourself be pulled away at that time.

[LPN197538]

Ktwlpn...thank you. That's an excellent way to handle it and I will definitively phrase it that way in my next interview.