First Med error

Emmie, everyone makes mistakes. If they fired every new nurse who made a mistake, we'd have no nurses left.

Take a deep breath.

I've come in to discover that a medication was not given on the previous shift. What did I do? I confirmed with Pharmacy that it had not been pulled, and I gave the med. The nurse following you probably took care of it and gave the med to the patient.

Ta-da.

:anpom:

I've also forgotten meds and the idiots keep telling me to come back. Go figure.

i agree think that most if not every nurse has made one and if they say they havent ,,,that means they just didnt catch the mistake,,, after all we are just human and we all have made them and prob will again but if and when u do it will make u that much more cautious when doing your med rounds

Try hanging an admixture antibiotic and forgetting to pull the plug to mix/activate it....giving your pt a nice 250 ml saline bolus instead of the drug. :)

Everyone makes mistakes. If they say they haven't, they're lying.

I hate that dang little plug on the ones you mix up. Sigh....

I had a nurse the other day forget to give an 1830 antibiotic!! I retimed it and gave it at 1930, and retimed the next dose six hours later by 30 minutes...after that it was back on schedule...

when she came back in the next day I said, "hey you forgot your 1830 antibiotic you're a terrible nurse! (I was joking)" She said, "oops I got swamped with that new admit at 1800!" I said, "It's all good I took care of it!" and then I went home and forgot all about the whole thing until I read this thread.

I love this whole "we're all human" idea, but I have a night charge nurse who I swear is out to get me. I'm a new grad on days. Most of the hospital is new grad friendly, but this charge seems to think I should know EVERYTHING she does and more! :angryfire

Me: "No, I forgot to do that..."

Charge: "What, were you just too swamped?"

Me: "No, I'm new. I forgot / didn't know I had to do that."

Charge: "I know you're new. But were just too swamped or what?"

I was so humiliated I didn't know what to say. I know this is a med error thread, but what about other things that are forgotten? It seems these pass like water with experienced nurses, but not with me - at least not for this charge!

What's up with this? Is it me? Is this normal for new grads? Is it her? My husband suggested maybe she's like this with everyone, and I just don't since it since I'm on days. :bowingpur

I'm sooo obsessive about doing EVERYTHING the right way. I learn from my mistakes, but I don't need to be scolded like a child to learn that I need to follow up on something or whatever the case may be...

I'm so burned about this, so I could ramble on forever

Try hanging an admixture antibiotic and forgetting to pull the plug to mix/activate it....giving your pt a nice 250 ml saline bolus instead of the drug. :)

I can see myself doing this someday . ..when in a huge hurry.

I like snapping them and mixing them, though -- it's fun. :)

Try hanging an admixture antibiotic and forgetting to pull the plug to mix/activate it....giving your pt a nice 250 ml saline bolus instead of the drug. :)

Everyone makes mistakes. If they say they haven't, they're lying.

I had sooo many IV abx to hang yesterday and the day before, that I forgot to unclamp a few of them. The IV would beep, telling me the abx was done, and I couldn't understand why there was still fluid in the bag! DUH! I also had a pt's wife tell me that the main IV bag was dripping and not the abx. "Oh, I'm not sure why it's doing that..." [Press a few buttons on the machine.] "There, it's ok now!" DUH again!

I made mine yesterday. I felt and do still feel like big dumbo:no: I cannot believe that I did that I was in a hurry and completely forgot to do my last and most important check the ID BAND . My preceptor said it showed alot of integrity to comeout and admit what I did and how it happened. I spoke to the doctor who ripped me a new one, the family :bowingpur, and my manager . I knew it was wrong and I wasn't trying to hide it but the doctor really made me want to climb under a rock. But the patient was actually fine. Maybe this ain't for me.

I made mine yesterday. I felt and do still feel like big dumbo:no: I cannot believe that I did that I was in a hurry and completely forgot to do my last and most important check the ID BAND . My preceptor said it showed alot of integrity to comeout and admit what I did and how it happened. I spoke to the doctor who ripped me a new one, the family :bowingpur, and my manager . I knew it was wrong and I wasn't trying to hide it but the doctor really made me want to climb under a rock. But the patient was actually fine. Maybe this ain't for me.

Don't doubt yourself over one mistake! Thank goodness I work in a hospital with an electronic medication system. I scan the med and the pt's armband. If the med doesn't belong to the pt, the system will tell me! If the dose is wrong, the system will tell me!

There are plenty of experienced nurses who will tell you they've made med errors. Thankfully, most of them are NOT harmful. This is no reason to doubt your career choice though!