Doing the right thing

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I caught a huge med error made by other nurse. When I confronted her, she admitted doing it, but refused to file incident report, saying "that day was totally crazy, let it go". She is a charge nurse also, and a buddy-buddy with mgr. I feel this is so wrong. There is a lot of cover up going on there (if you belong to the right crowd). I've tried to speak up to nurse mgr before, she basically said to mind my own business.

What should I do? Should I just let it go, like I've done before?

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What was the error?

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What was the error?

Administering 10 times more of the med prescribed.

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.

Perhaps you should file the incident report. Then it is in writing and cannot be ignored.

Just read your new entry. I really think you should write an incident report...-

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Administering 10 times more of the med prescribed.

Once you are aware of the error it is your responsibility to report it. The nurse who made the error could pull you down with her for not reporting it. I would go to the DON and ask her if she needs you to write a statement about the med error nurse x made. Make her think you assume an incident report was filed and act surprised when the DON says she knows nothing about it. After that it's up to the DON. Good luck.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

At this point, you really have no choice, as you haven't filed a report yet. ;) In my neighborhood, you have till the end of the shift in which the error was caught, to file.

Did it harm the patient? Was the doc notified? Do you think it'll happen again? Do you think it was caused by a "totally crazy" day, or is it a situation that could never repeat itself?

If you have serious concerns that it harmed the patient or could happen again to someone else, then by all means file a report.

If you think it's something that Pharmacy could better handle, report it to Pharmacy and maybe they can file a report.

Some facilities also have a "near-miss" hotline. You might call there.

However, if this is just a "personality" thing, and you're more upset because your manager doesn't want you to report because of who made the error, rather than how significant an error it was, you have some serious thinking to do about whether or not to stay on this unit.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

OK, I posted that before I knew what happened. I believe you do have to report that, even if you are filing late.

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At this point, you really have no choice, as you haven't filed a report yet. ;) In my neighborhood, you have till the end of the shift in which the error was caught, to file.

Did it harm the patient? Was the doc notified? Do you think it'll happen again? Do you think it was caused by a "totally crazy" day, or is it a situation that could never repeat itself?

If you have serious concerns that it harmed the patient or could happen again to someone else, then by all means file a report.

If you think it's something that Pharmacy could better handle, report it to Pharmacy and maybe they can file a report.

Some facilities also have a "near-miss" hotline. You might call there.

However, if this is just a "personality" thing, and you're more upset because your manager doesn't want you to report because of who made the error, rather than how significant an error it was, you have some serious thinking to do about whether or not to stay on this unit.

I'm quitting from there. It is not even the med error itself but the atmosphere of covering up "right" people and reprimanding others for much smaller offenses.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.

we have a week to file an incident report.

of course, they want it sooner than that, but they do give us a week.

you know, administration wants every single med error, or near med error, written up so they can investigate, determine what caused it, and come up with five new policies/procedures/pieces of paper we then have to fill out.

i realize i sound cynical, but if i wrote up every error i came accross, i'd never do anything else. literally.

i think, though, that deep down, you know what you should do.

if any harm came to the patient (either temporary or permanent) then you certainly have to report it.

otherwise, ask yourself this: if it wasn't the charge nurse/nm's buddy, would you still hesitate to write the incident report?

it may be best (as another poster suggested) to report it to pharmacy, so that your nm can't "lose" it.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
I'm quitting from there. It is not even the med error itself but the atmosphere of covering up "right" people and reprimanding others for much smaller offenses.

Oh, BTDT. Such a shame when a unit goes downhill like that. But I agree, if it really is that type of unit, you'll be happier elsewhere.

Best of luck to you.

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Specializes in OB, Telephone Triage, Chart Review/Code.

I know you have made the decision to quit, but I think you should still file an incident report. The report is NOT intended to place blame. That nurse is putting you in a very awkward position and getting away with God knows what other mistakes she's made. File the report w/o accusatory note..."just the facts, ma'am".

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I understand you wanting to quit, it just stinks that you have to. I know what it's like to work in a place where some people get "special" treatment. It's very frustrating to say the least. I wish you luck.

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