Irritated with myself....

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So I spent the first half of my shift putting out fires, as usual. I got to go home at half shift, though, but I had a lot of loose ends to tie up before I could leave, and my charge wanted me off the floor at a specific time. I thought I had managed to get everything cleaned up for the person who was taking over my patients, but I just remembered something I forgot to deal with and forgot to mention before I left. Blood had backed up into a patient's saline lock, and I forgot to flush it, so it probably clotted off and she'll need a new site.:angryfire I'm just so irritated with myself for forgetting this.

Oh well, I am back tomorrow. I can face the music then and see if anything came of it, like an incident report.:uhoh3:

I just feel like such a numbskull.

Specializes in Emergency.

Funny,

I had a conversation with another nurse about this tonight at work! We are both new grads (me 6 months on the job, she about three months), and as newbies, are probably way more "anal" than the seasoned nurses. She told me she has dreams that wake her up sometimes about work where she forgot something important. I have been known to call work from my car or home to ask the night nurses if I did this or that, etc. It's kind of a joke with them now!

All the other nurses tell me I will get over this eventually, but it really freaks me out right now. I am scared not of the write up (if I messed up, I will acknowledge it and learn from it), but the impact on my patients. Right now, if I get through my shift, and everyone is still breathing, I am happy! I figure it was a good shift!

Amy

Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele.

Nancy...You didn't make a bad decision, you made a GOOD decision. You were prioritizing. I am sure the other things you were taking care of would have affected those patients more than just having a new IV placement!

Don't be so hard on yourself!

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