have you ever?

[newnurse11491]

Recently I was working night shift at my job when a patient complained of weakness in her left arm. I checked her for all the usual stuff, facial droop, ability to follow commands, ability to squeeze my hands. All seemed normal. The patient had been sleeping on that particular arm, so me and the aide repositioned her and when I rechecked on her throughout the night she said it was getting better. So I passed it on to am shift and went home. Low and behold the MD ordered a STAT CT scan that morning and she had a brain bleed and was transferred to Neuro ICU. Because of this I now feel sick whenever I'm at work wondering what if I miss something else? Because of this i ended up hanging a couple IV medications wrong and now have to meet with my manager...I'm starting to second guess everything I do.. My question is has anyone else missed something and started to second guess themselves?

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Did you chart your assessment? And the fact that your findings were negative?

Do you have a good relationship with the ordering MD? Perhaps you could ask him/her what indicated the necessity for a CT? This would help you in the future when it comes to assessments. If you have a good. Nurse mgr, she may be able to clue you in on what you accidentally possibly overlooked.

I didn't work in acute care, though. So there may be different protocols in that setting.

I don't understand how this incident caused you to hang wrong IV solutions, though. Please explain.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

I always second guessed everything.

That's why, when your patient reports a focal neuro deficit.. you turf the guessing to the doctor.

You've learned one of the main lessons in nursing, you can never go wrong reporting a new finding.

How did this lead to hanging IV's wrong?

[newnurse11491]

I always second guessed everything.

That's why, when your patient reports a focal neuro deficit.. you turf the guessing to the doctor.

You've learned one of the main lessons in nursing, you can never go wrong reporting a new finding.

How did this lead to hanging IV's wrong?

Because I was stressed about possibly missing something and got distracted

[newnurse11491]

yes I charted everything but since it was new my mgr said I should have called

[RNperdiem, RN]

Nursing is humbling. Hopefully you learned from this. You will have to rebuild your confidence, and it is a painful spot to be in. Best of luck.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

"Because I was stressed about possibly missing something and got distracted".

Please...examine your response. Nurses are always under stress. We must focus through all situations. I hope you did not present this "excuse" to your manager yet.

I am not judging you, trying to help you through this.

[newnurse11491]

No I did not..I just apologized and took responsibility

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

That sucks about the patient. I would be upset, too.

That being said, we all make mistakes. Some of them even look like the right decisions at the time, like you not calling the MD in this case. We just have to roll with it and move on. Take the piece of knowledge you gained but leave the guilt behind - we are all going to screw up. Internalizing the guilt trip is just going to make your job harder, and make you more likely to make another mistake (as you have already found out the hard way). Just breathe, relax, and get back to work.