First medication error & on new graduate orientation :(

[gardenia09]

i feel so incredibly guilty that i went searching for a forum to discuss this. i am a new graduate on an intermediate icu in orientation on my 2nd week. it has been going well and my preceptor is good. today i made a stupid, careless error. i had a patient receiving decadron 4mg bid. i gave them their 0900 dose no problem. then at 1200 i went to give them their other meds and i gave another dose of decadron 4mg that wasn't due until 2100. i had another patient getting decadron 4mg at 1200 and red the wrong emar when i pulled it up on the computer. i gave the extra dose of decadron and then looked at the correct emar again and realized i wasn't supposed to give it after my preceptor asked me what meds i had just given. i feel so bad because first off, i usually check all my meds with my preceptor beforehand if i haven't given them that shift. then idk why i didn't check the name on the top of the screen i just looked straight at the meds. my preceptor was obviously annoyed because its on her name as well but she was still supportive as i fought back tears and swallowed hard. we went straight to the anm and they said that there is no harm done, we called the md and did an incident report.

i already feel incompetent on this unit beccause of the acuity and so much to learn that very different from nursing school. i went to lunch and couldn't even swallow my food. i tried to finish the shift with some dignity but it was difficult. i went through nursing school without any incidents in clinical at all and am somewhat of a perfectionist. i am still disgusted with myself and i am sure i will have to talk about this again. how do i keep my confidence up? this is unacceptable and could have caused harm. i have been an rn for a few weeks and this is not a good way to start. they said it will never happen again now, i sure hope so!!

[mandyc]

It does not always matter how long you have been a nurse, We are bound to make mistakes at some point in our nursing career. It is a scary thing, but I bet the next time you grab a MED you will look at it twice! That is what learning and being a good nurse is all about, Learning from mistake/s. It will be a valuable lesson learned..." A lesson learned, lessens your mistakes" ...Good luck to you and your nursing career...

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

OK so you learned a valuable lesson. Of course you feel bad. Doing med rounds when you have a hundred other things to do, and feel pressured isn't easy.

I have had people/patients and their families nagging me cos I do med rounds too slow. Well, I say too bad. I tell them now if I am continuously interrupted, I will make errors (which I go to court for, not them) and could quite possibly kill someone. They usually stop nagging a bit after that. I also tell them to feel free to complain if they want as that is their right, but no-one has.

Run through your med check list. Right patient, right time, right drug, right route, etc. Check the patient and the med. Always check the name badge of the patient. Then, take a deep breath and concentrate, and run through the medication again. Always ask yourself - is this the right med/right time? Check the chart (or computer chart whatever) again. Even if you have to check 3 times do it that way - whatever works best for you. If you get into a routine of always doing meds a certain way you will really lessen your chances of making a mistake.

You looked at 2100 and your mind transposed it to 1200, for some reason - you probably had low blood sugar levels! But just keep following a routine and DON'T let people nag you when you are doing meds, no matter how behind you are. If something doesn't need doing right away - or isn't an emergency - I tell people I will get back to you once I have done my medication round, and that there is only one of me.

Don't worry about your preceptor. She'll get over it I'm sure. She shouldn't be making you feel guilty, goodness knows, as you are only new.

You did all the right things, no harm was done and I feel you will be OK.

[sweetjellies1]

On my first day of work after orientation i made a medication error and gave a resident 20units of novolin N in the AM instead of PM:crying2:. because the sheet on the MAR was a photocopy of a handwritten MAR and the AM looked just like PM. When the RN came to the room i told her about giving insulin she said that she was pretty sure the resident was not supposed to get insulin in the AM. the supervisor was notified we monitored the resident through out the shift. the MD was notified. I was so miserable the whole day. I donot want to have that feeling again. I keep going in my head over and over again"if only I had checked this " if only i had chcked that.." I felt so rushed maybe i should not have rushed but how does it work out cause if not giving med between one hour ahead or one hour after is also a medication error. I was not on the floor where i was given the whole orientation but on a new floor with all new faces and residents. I felt very rushed by the CNA's:banghead:. anyhow the medication error report was filed and now i am waiting for my fate to be decided:confused:. will i be given another chance?I am a new LPN is this end of my career before beginning:sniff:

[dankimal]

I'm a new nurse, 6 months on the job so far and have made two, count 'em two med errors. Both were relatively minor, and I will spare all the grusome details, but what I have learned is this:

1.) Always check your orders

2.) Always check IV rates

What has saved me in both instances is the fact that I did not try to cover anything up. Once the error is discovered, instantly report it to all necessary parties. It really is the difference between mercy and wrath. People will forgive an honest mistake that is honestly rectified... people will not forgive one who tries to cover up an error, and nor should they.

We are human. We will make mistakes. But we own up to it and prevent as best we can any harm from befalling those in our care who have given us their trust.

Luckily for me, my institution has installed mobile computers on wheels with attached scanners which prevent a lot of errors from happening provided that one always scans, which I do, religiously. In addition, I am always checking orders, checking the unit dosage, the route, time, patient and rx.

Keep it up!

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I fear my own incompetence. (If I'm scheduled for a 6am shift, my ridiculous anxiety disallows me from sleeping the night before.) I fear, even more, somebody else viewing me as incompetent. I'm a nurse to help in healing or dying, but I'm now questioning after two months, shouldn't I be better at this by now?

2 months is nothing in a job! It takes a good, solid 6 months to even GRASP the basics of a job, and to get into a routine. You are being much too hard on yourself.

Try to have a bit more confidence in your abilities. Always slow down (hard I know) when doing your med's and get into a routine of checking everything 3 times. That way, you should not be making mistakes.