Would you classify this as a med error? I think it is.

[oramar]

Went for kidney scan yesterday. They put a IV in me and handed me contrast to drink. I drank it dutifully. When I walked into the cat scan room the tech was like "OH OH". I was supposed to have injected dye. So they gave me two options. Stay there and drink water in attempt to flush it out of my system. Or reschedule at later date. I rescheduled. I have seen to many situations as a med/surg nurse where that contrast just would not flush. I did not want to spend 3 or 4 hours only to find that they could not get scan anyway. I am glad I did not say I am a nurse. I would have looked dumb for not knowing mistake being made.

[jevans]

QUOTE

"I am glad I did not say I am a nurse. I would have looked dumb for not knowing mistake being made. "

I think I would have asked whether they need my signature on the incident report

j:kiss

[NICUNURSE]

I would consider this a med error. Remember the 5 rights of medications administration? One of them is the "right route" which this definitly wasn't.

[oramar]

I did not sign anything. I did talk to asst. manager and found out how it happened. They need to know because from what I was told there is a weakness in the comunication between secretary that schedules and the lab where the real work is done. She was not familiar with the test and "guessed" that it was GI!!!!

[CATHYW]

Yup-med error

[joenp]

I agree with the others that this was a gross error. What if you had been allergic to the contrast. I do not think that you should be embarrassed because you did not know the fact that they should have injected you. They are supposed to be the professionals who know what they are doing. What would you do if later that day you had a reaction? Do you think that you would have anything to stand on, if you stated that they gave you something to drink, they may very well deny having done. I am not faulting you for anything, but I have seen unfortunately this type of event happen in the past. The poor patient did not have any grounds for recourse. The staff should have filled out an incident report!!! Because we are nurses we should expect them to write up an incident report and go through all the appropriate channels!! If they do that to us, how many times do they do that to folks that do not know any better. But in the end, we as nurses know that mistakes are made, but.......! joenp

[oramar]

I didn't say there was no incident report. I said I did not sign it. I would not sign a incident report where I was the victum. You are not responsible to sign an incident report in this situation. If there was something on there that made it look like you were partically responsible the lawyers would centainly bring it out.

[jevans]

No !

I would not have signed the incident report BUT it would let them know I wanted, even expected one

I am glad that you spoke to a senior though

j:kiss

[jevans]

No !

I would not have signed the incident report BUT it would let them know I wanted, even expected one cos they are sometimes "forgotten"

I am glad that you spoke to a senior though

j:kiss

[Jenny P]

Oramar, that definitely is a med error, and from what the manager told you, is it possible that they do either "blameless" incident reports or a sentinel event report-- in other words, they are trying to track down where the system fails and fix the faulty area so further errors don't occur. However, it also sounds like they are blaming the secretary for the problem; so who knows?

Just don't let them charge you for the 2 contrast preps!

[WashYaHands]

I agree that it was a med error and I agree with Jenny P that they need to track down where the system failed. Another aspect of this is that you as the patient had to reschedule, possibly take more time from work for another appointment, and wasted your time in the first place all because of this error.

Linda

[OBNURSEHEATHER]

I would say... yes.

Heather