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Discussion

feeling very stupid here

hello to all....i am feeling very very dumb and not a very good nurse......first all i work in a home type setting with 12 very medically involved frail mentally and physically challenged individuals....they often have dr appts thru out the work week and people always are asked to sign up to take them for extra or overtime.....well on this particular day i went into work for my regular hours of 6am-10am(PT HRS).....so at about 9am the supervisor of the house(not a nurse)came up to me and asked if i would go with her to take so and so in for an upper GI......sure i said,i was there,they were stuck as the nurse who signed up didnt show.....ok...so i get his AM meds and flush(he has a jtube) ready to go....we get there.....they can not do the upper GI in his wheelchair,they can not find a hoyer....after about 30 mins they find one,we get him on the table,i unhook his feeding,leave the room and they start the procedure........he does not take anyting by mouth so it was put thru his J tube.......i am in the lil room with the dr and he says....we wont be able to see his stomach thru his jtube....he showed mje waht he was seeing and said this test is done......he told me the dr who ordered this test knew better..........we get him back, the RN of the house was there,explained it to her....she couldnt understand why the dr said they wouldnt see the stomach as others has had this test and they always saw it.......so i leave and i get home still thinking of the test....and it hits me......THE GTUBE........he also has a gtube to empty stomach contents.....OMG!!!! how stupid i am!!! I didnt even think about that.......and i knew all along........and i told the techs in the room this is his stomach drainage....

i feel like the worst nurse ever......why wasnt i thinking!!!

thanks for taking the time to read.....

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    • Author

    wish i would or could get maybe one lil feedback......i come everyday looking:cry:

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    • Experts

    Well, I read your post several days ago, but didn't really have any input.

    Mistakes happen. We all forget important information at times, and the presence of the g-tube was something that you probably forgot to mention. If this will make you feel better, it has nothing to do with stupidity. We are all fallible human beings with flaws.

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    Life happens. You will remember this for next time..

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    We all do things like that from time to time. But you weren't the only one there... surely this patient had a medical record and someone could have read that to find out about the patient's history, and other staff could have noticed the G tube as well. So it wasn't just you.... some day you will laugh about this!

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    I agree that you were not the only person in the room...how many other people were there? Makes you wonder was the doctor himself reading the chart as well... because the record would have shown that the patient had a G-tube. For that matter did the doctor even know if he had the right patient?...point is this how many people get into malpractice lawsuits because you didn't catch it the doctor should have. Don't feel bad it is a lesson learned another building block to your nursing career. This does not make you a bad nurse and does not define who you are!:nono:

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    none of them noticed...how funny. Don't even worry about it. I feel down right stupid every day!

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    If thats the worst you've done, your doing ok. Most jobs you can forget to tighten a bolt or something, but in nursing a mistake can cause a life, so messing up a gi test is nothing. Own up to it and put it behind you.

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    momtojosh,

    Don't worry. You are not stupid for missing this. Heck, why didn't the doctor notice? LOL. I would place the blame on him and let it go. You were probably nervous or tired, and nervousness and tiredness gets in the way of logic sometimes. It has me tons of times. Heck, I feel stupid a lot. As another poster mentioned, if this is the only mistake (not really a mistake on your part, I would say), that you made, you are doing great! Keep your head held high and keep telling yourself that you are a great nurse. That one incident doesn't define you as a nurse.

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