especially when you could have swept it under the carpet.......a short while back, l went into the pt room to give an IM inj. Almost always, l draw up meds in the med area, for some reason, that evening l did it in the pt room....l change needles after l draw up the med, so when l re-capped the firs needle, l laid it on the counter, turns out the cap was loose. Next thing l know, a visitor was stuck with this needle... thankfully it was not contaminated biohazard-wise....pt did not want to see a doc, wasn't upset, and no one else knew....but l wrote it up, didn't feel l had a choice. If anything had come of it later it would have been much worse and the injured could have made false claimes. So l got a "verbal". My NM was great about it but stopped short of commending me for my honesty, which l found dissapointing.
While I can't 'write myself' up yet, if I make an error or do something that I should not have done I will report myself to the nurse, after fixing it of course. :)
Without integrity what are we? Coming from a military family and the military may have influenced but my word is all I really have and I don't break it for anybody. Especially myself.
I have had to do it once. I feel that an error should always be reported, no matter how small it is, especially where patient safety is concerned. An incident report in most cases is used as a learning tool, and should not be viewed as punitive.
I was involved in a med error - I was the second checker and we both got it wrong - and wrote myself up. The other nurse wrote themself up as well. We both got suspended while there was an investigation.
I was taking care of a patient and at the beginning of each shift I always check the meds the patient is on and note it in my report sheet if sliding scale insulin is ordered.
On this particular patient I apparently missed it and didn't treat the blood sugars all day. They were all in the 150-160's so I didn't really cause any harm, but nevertheless it was a medication error and wrote myself up.
I have always written myself up whether it is a med error or incident occuring with a patient which is not a med error.
I recall a nurse educator stating during orientation . I would rather have someone report themselves " I know then I can trust them, as opposed to the person who never will ,nor admits they are capable of mistakes" guess we all make mistakes whether it is a system type error due to patient work load or what ever the case might be.
I believe we all recognize when we have made a mistake and try to own it. I have sometimes learnt best by the mistakes I have made myself .
I was involved in a med error - I was the second checker and we both got it wrong - and wrote myself up. The other nurse wrote themself up as well. We both got suspended while there was an investigation.
I thought the intent of writing ourselves up, ( filling out incident reports) was not to be punitive? Is the UK different?
Cross fingers, have never been suspended for writing myself up or filling out incident report.
I have written myself up. Also, I write things up when it takes forever to get meds from pharmacy, or when I find the wrong meds in the Pyxis cubie. Not to get myself or anyone else in trouble, but if there's a trend, someone needs to catch it.
yeah, unfortunately, I have, being that I make mistakes more than I wish I did, and I've never gotten in trouble after writing myself up for a mistake, and never had a doc get mad at me for telling them I screwed up, even the time I screwed up a heparin drip (lesson: always have another nurse recheck heparin drip titrations!)
Heck yeah! I'd rather be honest about doing something wrong at the start than having someone find out about it later! Plus, it's the right thing to do!
thankfully it was not contaminated biohazard-wise....pt did not want to see a doc, wasn't upset, and no one else knew....but l wrote it up, didn't feel l had a choice. If anything had come of it later it would have been much worse and the injured could have made false claimes. So l got a "verbal". My NM was great about it but stopped short of commending me for my honesty, which l found dissapointing.
I have sometimes learnt best by the mistakes I have made myself .
rags
265 Posts
So far as I know I am the ONLY one that has written me up.