Advice for the young.

Nurses General Nursing

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Has anyone ever been fired from a nursing job for medication error and still managed to be successful and pursue the career?

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I was not reported to the BON. Were you? Being reported to the BON is a whole different ball game, but most medical errors do not result in license discipline unless very egregious, deliberate and/or displaying a pattern indicative of a greater problem than simple human error.

I was not reported to the BON. Were you? Being reported to the BON is a whole different ball game, but most medical errors do not result in license discipline unless very egregious, deliberate and/or displaying a pattern indicative of a greater problem than simple human error.

I wasn't told I was, I'm not sure how to know as my medication error was speculation.... I made another post about situation, but had it remove because I felt I was to descriptive.

Specializes in Hematology-oncology.
Is this true if the error was omitting a medication on accident?

I just want to point out that an error of omission can be just as serious as an error of commission. Like not.done.yet, my first error was an omission. I was a newly minted nurse, in my first few weeks of orientation on a post-op general surgery unit. My patient had an ordered antibiotic, which I hung as prescribed. Problem is, I didn't notice that the antibiotic was actually in a little bottle at the bottom of the bag, and I needed to break the seal and mix the solution...so my patient got a bolus of saline instead.

An error? Heck yeah. Teachable moment? Heck yeah. And you better believe 13 years later I still triple check each antibiotic I hang.

I just want to point out that an error of omission can be just as serious as an error of commission. Like not.done.yet, my first error was an omission. I was a newly minted nurse, in my first few weeks of orientation on a post-op general surgery unit. My patient had an ordered antibiotic, which I hung as prescribed. Problem is, I didn't notice that the antibiotic was actually in a little bottle at the bottom of the bag, and I needed to break the seal and mix the solution...so my patient got a bolus of saline instead.

An error? Heck yeah. Teachable moment? Heck yeah. And you better believe 13 years later I still triple check each antibiotic I hang.

Oh no doubt i still count it as an error. I was just wondering if this was the end of my career ? How's would I know if I had been reported to the BON. I'm a fairly new nurse with no guidance all of the nurses I know are just as inexperienced as I am.

Specializes in Hematology-oncology.

I think all of us on here talking about errors we made prove it is not the end of your career. My advice still stands--as long as you learn from it, and apply that knowledge going forward, then you will be fine.

Ruby's advice to take a continuing education course is sound. Not only is it beneficial to you, but it proves to future employers that you are committed to learning from your mistake, and want to provide the best care to your patients.

Also, I hadn't already turned in a two week notice and accepted a position at a new facility. Should I tell the facility of what happened ? Since I was hired before the incident ?

Thank you all for the guidance and kindness.

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I am going to say this as gently as I can because your concern does you credit. Listen to me. Your anxiety about this is officially at the point where it is going to screw you up more than the original error ever will.

Let. it. go.

You made a mistake. There were consequences. You have learned a lot. You have a chance now to move forward so....do that. Move forward. Tuck this painful lesson under your belt, square your shoulders and get back to work.

There is no way to know if you were reported to the BON. If you didn't harm someone then it is extremely unlikely and then, even if you were, if you didn't harm someone it is even more unlikely that the BON is going to find it actionable.

You are going to have to find a way to file this into "things I learned from and won't ever forget" and carry on. If you get a letter from the BON you will deal with that when it happens. Until then, keep building your practice and being the best nurse you can be.

If you must, go to your BON website and find the portion where it is made public what nurses are under discipline or losing their license for. Usually the court documents are posted. Look at what happened to put them in those situations. Compare them to your own situation. You will see a pretty clear pattern as to what the BON usually goes after people for. Usually it is drug diversion, drunk driving, working in an impaired state or willing wanton bad practice or even criminal intent, such as murder.

Then get back to work. Your question doesn't have an answer that any of us can say with certainty. However, there are significant odds at play and those odds say you just need to get on with your work and learn from this.

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

And no. You do not need to self report to your new employer about this med error.

Try not to worry about it. All that'll do is upset your stomach and make you stay up at night leading to more mistakes possibly. Just thank God no one got hurt really but you learned from it probably. I agree with not.done.yet, MSN, RN and also Willie Nelson.:smokin:

Thank you, you have been a wonderful help.

Whatever mistake you made learn from it and move forward.

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