First relatively big mistake... can't stop crying

[cyndilouwho12]

:cry:Long but I will try to make it shorter..

At my hospital we work three days a week 12 hrs, then one week out of the month we work 4 days. This was my 4 day week and I worked the last three days in a row.

I had 4 patients on my assignment friday (my 4th day) and 2nd week off orientation. These 4 patients were not critical really for the ICU step down unit that I work on, but very very needy. And the patients that weren't needy had family at the bedside 24*7 that were even more needy. They were paging me overhead to clean up their loved ones after incontinence. One of the patients was on a heparin drip and was just transferred from ICU the day before. On orientation I didn't have a patient on heparin or trachs, or vents or wound vacs, bi-paps .. nothing!!!

I asked many questions about the drip and when the doc came in that mornign and said we are going to d/c the heparin and remove the foley, for whatever reason it just made sense to me. WHen the order finally came over I read it wrong. The order read "d/c heparin bolus", I d/c'd the drip as the next order was for coumadin the same day. I know better than this!! I know that heparin is titrated down .. what the hell was I thinking??

The next nurse came on and she called me at home at 830pm aksing me what I did? I was hysterical at this point and have been ever since.

She was off the heparin for 5 hours at most but all I can think is that I am going to get fired over this ...

Help??

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Whoa there - you made a mistake. Now, let's look at that - why was the pt on heparin in the first place? Was the pt harmed? It sounds like the pt did okay. You will never make this mistake again, I bet. On the other hand, it might help you to prioritize your care also: the incontinent pt can either wait or the care can be delegated, the needy families can be told to wait also or again, care delegated. Not everything must be done instantly. You have to keep your eye on the important things (ie orders and meds) and re-prioritize as the shift progresses.

Good luck and don't worrry. All of us have done these things occasionally. Give yourself a break?

[helper T cell]

I know your probably exhausted after working 4 days this week. That's alot with the 12 hour shift thing. But maybe you would feel better if you went in and met with your nurse manager. When things go wrong for me at work I try to make an appointment or I show up and get things out.

Then you won't have to keep dwelling on your mistake and you'll know how they feel as well. Plus in talking with more experienced nurses you can learn from your mistakes and develope a plan to help you deal with things.

My heart goes out to you and I hope that you can enjoy your days off.

[Scrubby]

Hugs :)

We all make mistakes, it's part of learning and it really sucks! I'm sure that you'll remember this for a long time and won't make the same mistake twice.

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

You've already got some good advice above, we all make mistakes at some time it's just important that we learn from them and judging by your post this is not something you are going to forget.

It's so hard being a new nurse there is so much to remember and delegation was something that I struggled with for years and years.

Don't beat yourself up too much

{{{hugs}}}

[cherilee]

dont be too hard o n yourself. I had been doing that for a year, and still do it sometimes. It is POINTLESS. Trust me, everyone makes mistakes at times . EVERYONE. If the patient wasnt harmed, and you learned from it, move on. You become a stronger nurse with every lesson.

A good nurse doesnt get fired because of one mistake. Let it go:nuke:

[crunchymomx3]

*hugs* It sounds like you have gotten some good advice already. Keep your chin up. :)

[Austinite]

I'm sorry it had to be you, but I have learned from your story and would like to thank you for sharing it. I will now never make the same error, so your struggle is not all for naught! I hope that helps a little!! :icon_hug:

[leosrain, BSN, RN]

I don't know if I read your post right, but it sounded like the doctor ordered the heparin to be d/c.

Perfect nurses see a d/c order like that and instantly know it's not right and question it--every single time!

Nobody's perfect though...Including the doctor in this case! Remember, the doctor ordered it to be discontinued. It's his/her mistake to share. If nurses are going to take 100% responsibility for every single order, we may as well fire all the doctors and put in orders ourself!

But, you see, there's a reason we don't do things like order heparin drips, or develop plans to bridge to coumadin: we don't have the same specialized training.

Yes, it's a nurse's job to question orders, but this is a very subjective art that takes an entire career to master--and even then, erroneous orders can slip through the cracks. We need to stop taking the whole weight of a doctor's responsibilities on our shoulders. And Doctors need to stop casually putting in orders with the assumption that nurses will catch mistakes.

One last point. Why was that nurse calling you at home?

a) She should be calling the doctor to clarify the order, not you! You didn't put in the order, the doctor did. It wasn't your order to clarify!!!

b) If she wanted to tell you that you made an error (rub it in?), she could have done it on the next shift. I suspect she was just doing it to boost her own ego for catching an error.

Anyway, I just wanted to stand up for you a little bit. This mistake was not as big as you are probably thinking. Like everyone has mentioned...you will never make that mistake again.

Nurses frequently learn from horrible failures. What an incredible way to learn!!!

[HeartJulz]

I know how you feel .. Ive made a huge mistake at my job, I felt HORRIBLE for days and days ...but know that it will pass in time and bottom line is you learned from it. Im a perfectionist, so for me to even make a mistake made me feel even worse, but I am human, and so pick up your feet, move along ... next time just know you will know now! good luck to you ...