I committed this medication error during my first month of training in the hospital. I was assigned in the medical/surgical/pediatric floor of the hospital. We have 38 patients at that time and we're only 4 nurses on duty, dengue hemorrhagic fever was on its peak...so in short, it was a toxic duty. I was assigned at that time to do vital signs and another nurse was assigned to do the medication.
NursesGeneral NursingArticle
There was a new doctor's order for one of our patient which was to incorporate BNC or benutrex c. I was not able to read the doctor's order and was not assigned to do the medication. The nurse assigned to it, prepared the medication and asked me to give it to the patient without any instruction, she just said give it to the patient. I was looking for the medication card and she said there's none for such order. So without hesitation, I gave the medication but I gave it via IV push. The patient reacted when the medication hit her vein because she said it hurt a little so when I returned to the nurse station, I told my head nurse, "The patient got hurt a little when I gave the meds" so she asked why. I said "I IV pushed the meds" and it all started there.
My headnurse called up the Supervisor to report the incident. hen I was so nervous that something bad might happen to the patient since I gave it incorrectly. So what I did was to monitor her every 15 minutes to make sure nothing bad happened to the patient and even checked if she's developing allergies although it was given after negative skin test reading. I got so worried during the entire shift and I asked myself, why did I do that...I promised myself to never ever give medication that I did not prepare. I took accountability for that mistake and even volunteered that I will make an incident report.
The hospital that I work with is a small tertiary hospital with only a few employees, so rumor spreaded so fast that this new nurse made an error. I was not aware that there was a young nurse who's working in the hospital longer than me, who were irritated the way I speak...in short, she dislikes me because I'm too feminine and she even quoted me as their "favorite" in their unit, in a sarcastic way. I was thinking, what made her to dislike me since I was not able to work with her during shifts. She was in night shift and I was in the morning shift. She does not know how I do my work and on how I treat other people..She does not know me so well for them to judge me. She said negative things about me, she even gave me a name "BNC". She even told new nurses about my error with my name in the story then they made fun of it, making me an like a stupid nurse. I've been hearing those things, it hurts, it lowered my self-esteem and even felt so demoralized but I let things roll off my back.
Just a few weeks ago (I've been working in the hospital for almost a year now) I heard negative things from her again, she wanted to hit me in the face because she got irritated the way I look at her. I said to myself, I don't do anything bad to her, she does not even know me and i don't deserve what she's doing to me, I have to stand up for myself. I've been keeping my patience for months and this time she went overboard. I went to their nurse station and confronted her, I can say I made a scene out there. It was not my intention, but this nurse told me that I was rude so the conversation ended up with loud voices.
After the incident, this nurse that I confronted talked to our Supervisor about it, I voluntarily made my incident report to explain my side about it, why I got mad. We ended up having a resolution with our Nursing Service Director. I told her everything, the nurse I confronted had the guts to deny it, she even told the director that she does not know why I was angry at her. But when I voiced out what's inside me, she was caught because she told the Director that she was not the only one laughing but everybody. The director told her that medication error is not a laughing matter but a delicate issue because it can be fatal. In front of the Director, we reconciled but I know outside the director's office I know, hatred was in her heart. Confronting that nurse is something that I am not proud of but I really have to stand up for myself. I may be tagged that I have temper but if I did nothing it will haunt me. I should have done that in a professional manner.
Lesson learned: If someone committed an error, it does not mean that for the rest of her life she will make mistake. It's the way of learning. Do not judge the person based on first impression. You don't have to like the person personally for you to be able to get along with at work. There is an overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect,
