Gave meds to wrong patient, please help guys

Trauma Columnist · Apr 29, 2006

Wow - 11 to 15 patients. Is this in long term care? Please know you won't make this mistake again - you have learned your lesson. Never, ever give meds quickly. You are your own worst critic. We have all made med errors. You got lucky this time in that you didn't harm a patient. However, you know now what happened and I doubt you will repeat it. Take care of yourself and tell your preceptor to SLOW DOWN!

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2006

You did everything right r/t the error. You reported tyourself, didn't try to cover anything up, and monitored.

Stope beating yourself up and move along. Your bosses are fine with it, so you be.

Next time follow your training and check, check, check! Three times vs. the MAR and meds themselves. Betcha this won't happen again real soon.

suebird3 · Apr 29, 2006

I agree with the other posters. We ALL have made mistakes, and we LEARN from them. Check, check, and recheck, and take a deeep breath. You will make it. I have faith in you. You have come this far, and you will do fine.

Suebird :)

MrsWampthang, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2006

Wow! 11-15 patients? That's appalling! And your mistake is exactly why nurses shouldn't have that many patients a piece. It isn't your fault, it is the place where you work that has such unsafe practices for their nurses. I would suggest looking for someplace safer to work (on your days off). You don't need the stress of questioning yourself because you're overwhelmed on top of being a new nurse. And don't worry, you are a good nurse, but it is ridunculous assignments like this that will make even seasoned nurses question their ability to be a good nurse. It isn't you, it's the assignment! Good luck!!!

Pam

MrsWampthang, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2006

guys, i need your help. i am about to have a breakdown right now. i was on my 8th day with a new precetor in med surg, had 11 patients, usually up to 15. this precetor was crazy all morning, i had asked for help giving med G tube (had never done) so she grabbed my meds went in and gave to patient and then had me give her an injection. she went on break, i went to sign off on chart and realized bed 3's med sheets were in bed 2's chart and and they had been switched. i always bring chart in room and check id band like three times (i am paranoid) but she was rushing me and had me so stressed out. when i realized it i ran to charge nurse, called doctor, put patient on monitor (she was a tiny cerebral palsy patient 30 but looked 10 yrs old). i did not sleep all night or the next day. my patient is fine, but what if she wasn't. i can't believe i trused the preceptor and just followed her without doing what i know is right. i don't know now if i can be a nurse, question my ability and feel like a terrible person. i cried every time someone said something to me that shift. has this every happened to any of you? i just really need some support as i feel like giving up at this point. i waiting to be a nurse all my life (I'm 48 now) and I have done this. if you guys have any thoughts, i would so appreciate them right now. i literally feel like i will have a breakdown over this. i am so upset. i respect you guys and whatever you have to say. thanks. very upset LVN in california

The other thing I wanted to add was, if your preceptor gave the meds, then it was her error, not yours. Don't give up on nursing! Like I said in my previous post, find someplace else to work where the practice is safer for nurses. 11-15 patients is totally out of line! :devil: You ARE a good nurse!!!! But this place is setting you up for failure by giving you that many patients. Get out now while you still have your sanity. When you're working someplace that truly allows you to take care of your patients in a responsible manner, there is nothing like the feeling you will get taking care of your patients. It sounds like you are the kind of nurse I would want taking care of me, but i wouldn't want to be a patient on the floor you are working. :nono: BTW, what happened to California's law about nurses only having 5 patients? Please don't give up on yourself! And don't keep beating yourself up, as I said, YOU are a good nurse, it is the workload that is not good. Again, good luck!!!

Pam

MimismomRN · Apr 29, 2006

Thank you so much Pam for your words of encouragement. You are absolutely right, the patient ratio at this hospital is crazy. California is supposed to have a 5:! ratio but because this is team nursing RN, LVN, Tech they think they can get awa with this. But when the LVNs are giving all the meds and treatments, you are overwhelmed with this many. I was only going to stay here one year just to get the experience, but now I'm not sure I can. The problem is no one will hire you here until you have one year of med/surg. (I am only an LVN). I hear it is like this all over. By the way, I did not give the meds G-tube, the preceptor did, but she had me give a lovenex injection so I did give that. I knew better. I am always so careful checking everything five times, but she got me off track with rushing me so I did not grab the chart and on top of that night shift had switched the sheets in the charts. I did not care if they fired me all I care about was my little patient. She was so small to have been given all those meds ( she had cerebral palsy, 30, but looked 10 years old). I am just so thankful she is fine. I could never forgive myself if she had been harmed. I just appreciate your support and thoughts so much. Thank you.

nambour51 · Apr 30, 2006

Look upon this as a learning experience where you learnt several valuable lessons so don't continue to berate yourself. Learn from the experience and move on. You cannot change the mistake that occurred and it seems that you handled the situation appropriately after realizing the error. (Well done for that - some people never learn how to cope with making a mistake) As Suebird said we all make mistakes - it is how we respond after the misktake that is important and you did just great. Now that you have mercilessly berated yourself list all the positive things that happened! (mistake identified, acknowledged, reported, monitoring commenced etc

Jo

MimismomRN · Apr 30, 2006

Thank you Jo for the encouragement. I just don't know how to get over this. Being a new nurse, now this is making me question my competence. I have been having nightmares ever since this happened last Thursday. And I am scared to death to go back to the hospital in a week. I don't think I can go through this again. Maybe I have an anxiety problem and shouldn't be a nurse at all and this is a sign, I'm not sure. I had only had eight days of preceptorship when this happened and the preceptor went to the wrong bed, but I should have caught it and didn't. Just not sure how to move on and not stay in the frozen state of fear that it will happen again because I am so stressed out.

NurseyTee · Apr 30, 2006

I hate that this happened to you. It sounds like it's your preceptor's fault not yours. This thread is a bit of a wake up call to me though. 11-15 patients is a LOT? I regularly have 30 or more by myself and it's killing me. Last week I had 52 by myself and thought I would die trying to get through that med pass. We lost 4 nurses last week due to this level of patient/nurse ratios. I have to do all the tx's by myself for all these pt's as well, not to mention charting. Needless to say, some days I just can't get all of it done. I concentrate on getting the med pass done first and foremost, and then the most crucial of treatments, and of course through all of this I have cont. tube feeds & tubing that need to be replaced. Ahhhhh.. I'm only ONE human being to cover FOUR wings. Why won't they hire more nurses???? I just don't get it. Pretty soon they are going to have ZERO nurses if they keep pushing us at this rate. What can we do?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2006

Good advice from above. I really have nothing to add.

It's devastating when we make an error. I know the feeling well myself. Try to look at it as a learning experience without beating yourself up. Hang in there.

nambour51 · Apr 30, 2006

Time to stop beating yourself! No one is perfect so we all make mistakes - that includes you. You were not the only one involved in this mistake. The system contributed to the mistake - understaffing, chart in wrong place, time presssure, preceptors actions, lack of experience. Read some articles on risk management and you will begin to understand that mistakes usually happen because of several factors that come together. When you understand this you become more alert to things that can contribute to errors. This understanding is what will help you become a better nurse and minimize the risk of errors occuring in the future. Errors can be minimized but not completely erradicated. You have had a valuable lesson about the factors that contribute to error. As I said before list all the positives that are associated with this incident - there are lots.

Hang in there - this sense of failure will pass as you gain experience. Self examination is good, constant flogging of oneself is not.

Jo