How many mistakes can one nurse make? (A vent)

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm actually talking about myself! :rolleyes:

I just came home from an exhausting Med-Surg day. I forgot to tape report on one of my patients (that's how tired I am) and I forgot to give 2, 7am meds. And to top it off, I had to call and tell about the meds to the same nurse who stopped me from leaving about the report. She had all three of my patients I messed up on! Argghh :imbar

For some reason, this nurse knows exactly how to look at me or talk to me to make me feel like a toddler at her feet. She's never outright rude or mean, but she just acts superior. I can never do any good by her.

I guess I just needed to get this off my chest and vent to others before I fell into my pillow. Some of you must have experienced this type of shift and coworker, unfortunately. It just makes you feel like the worse nurse in the world. :angryfire

What I keep telling myself however is all the good I did this shift. I sat with a scared and lonely patient and prayed, gave her reassurance and just listened. I explained a surgery to another patient and gave her details on the time for surgery so she could call her concerned family asap. I cleaned my other patient's incontinence despite being bit and swung at. I attempted an IV stick for an MRI at shift change when they called out of the blue and said "Oh yeah can you get an IV in him?" And I fnished my night by giving a complete bed bath to my little lady going to HDU and fed her breakfast.

Thanks for the virtual ear,

JacelRN

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Thanks for sharing. I've had those days too. Sometimes I feel like such a dope. And why is it when we screw up it's always with "that" nurses patients. LOL

Hope you have a better one next time. :)

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
And why is it when we screw up it's always with "that" nurses patients. LOL

I dunno, but it happens to me too. :o

Try to look at it this way. She makes mistakes too. Don't gloat, just know that there's some nurse out there who's followed her and found a few mistakes too.

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Specializes in med/surg, ortho, rehab, ltc.

I second what Third Shift and AngieO said. That nurse is very insecure if she needs to make you feel small in order to feel good about herself.

Med/Surg is hard but you're learning things that will make you a better nurse. I had a lot of bad days in Med/Surg. Sometimes I felt like the whole hospital system was designed to promote errors. Then I'd have one of those days; when a patient/family complimented my care or a nurse offered to help when he/she could see I was running late. Days like usually made up for the bad ones.

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I second what Third Shift and AngieO said. That nurse is very insecure if she needs to make you feel small in order to feel good about herself.

Med/Surg is hard but you're learning things that will make you a better nurse. I had a lot of bad days in Med/Surg. Sometimes I felt like the whole hospital system was designed to promote errors. Then I'd have one of those days; when a patient/family complimented my care or a nurse offered to help when he/she could see I was running late. Days like usually made up for the bad ones.

That brought back horrible memories of when I was an LVN on a Med/Surg floor. But I worked days and always had some superior night nurse who could not understand why every last little thing wasn't done by the time she got there.

One small suggestion: NO 7am meds!! Ever!!

Whenever an MD ordered anything scheduled for shift change I scrutinized and questioned it every chance I had.

I would say "Well if the patient really needs this done at 7am that's fine. But I'm telling you that this is shift change time and that sets it up to fail and not get done or at least not get done on time."

Very few things truely need to scheduled at that time. At 6am, get your blood sugars done, pre-op checklists done for those going to surgery and finish your charting. God help you if call lights for bed pans, etc. happen at that time but they do. My heart goes out to Med/Surg nurses.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

all nurses make mistakes at one time or another. as long as it did not harm the patient, don't beat yourself up. i am a ED nurse, but i have worked med/surg/tele from time to time. med surg can be very hard and i have alot of respect for the nurses who commit to staying in that specialty. med surg nurses don't receive the credit they deserve and i hope all med surg nurses realize how much they are appreciated even if know one tells you so. :)

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all nurses make mistakes at one time or another. as long as it did not harm the patient, don't beat yourself up. i am a ED nurse, but i have worked med/surg/tele from time to time. med surg can be very hard and i have alot of respect for the nurses who commit to staying in that specialty. med surg nurses don't receive the credit they deserve and i hope all med surg nurses realize how much they are appreciated even if know one tells you so. :)

Well said angel337! The OP vent sounds like a typical Nurses day to me. I recall a night from Hell in the ER during a generalized ice storm with multiple MVA's as well as slip and fall cases presenting for treatment to the extent that all rooms were full so that we set up stretchers and Mayo stands with suture sets in the hallway with ERP's and Surgical Residents suturing patients. Of course we had the usual URI, GI bleeds, chest pains, etc. I finished the shift at 11p.m., managed to finish paper work and give report by midnite. At 1 a.m. while eating in a diner I recalled I had forgotten to advise the Night Charge Nurse that I had wheeled a DOA behind a curtain in an alcove adjacent to an equipment storage room. All the paper work had been done and the DOA tagged - I simply forgot to mention it at shift change. I immediately phoned the Night Charge Nurse and listened to a long rant as she had discovered the body on her rounds. We all make mistakes! Don't beat yourself up.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, Home Health, Oncology.

Don't beat your self up!!

I bet everyone of us have had shifts like this!! I know, I do!! There is always one nurse like this & sometimes more!! I work nites, too. Busy med/surg/onc

floor.

I will also tell you & everyone else out there, that now that the Pharmacy is scheduling our meds, we have many more drugs at 0700!! I don't get it, myself!!

They do seem to be setting us up for mistakes!! I'll bet I have at least 1 0700 med on each of my patients & sometimes more!!

This is the worst possible time!! There is always Protonix at 0700 & all of a sudden, more & more!!

Then there is the Fosamax & then they have to sit up after & they don't want to sit up, they want to be still asleep!!!

Why do they do this to us!!??? When we ask, it's like, oh no these meds MUST be given at this time!! NO CHANGING!!!

OK, so there's my rant!!

Some shifts are just going to be this way!! You might be the best nurse ever, & you;ll still have them!!

Mary Ann

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Everyone makes mistakes...even THAT nurse, I'm sure.

Don't dwell on it. Just learn from mistakes and go on improving your nursing practice along the way.

...and hey, NO ONE died. It's OK. No harm done. No fowl.

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Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.

Hi Jacel,

If it makes you feel any better I had a similar day; except I had a student RN to witness it! I just couldn't do anything right, was stressed to the max; we went to electronic mars last week and they have been a nightmare. The computers are old, on wheels and barely fit into the room. And they die on you with no notice. Its made a very hard job impossible. I had 5 pts, and an admit from the ER. 2 going back and forward for procedure, one drug addicted pt the doc wont deal with, 2 hrly demerol and phergan, blood transfusion, 2 bad iv's ( I couldn't get either one and I am not usually all that bad), the ER had a husband, newborn and jealous 2 year old tearing up the place. And the student, who knows everything. At 7pm hadn't charted a thing. And the oncoming shift is hassling me because of the electronic mar showing a med given in PACU. I was supposed to "fix" it. I left at 10pm, 15 hours with one rushed 20 minute break. Oh, I hung my blood, and went back to check it, there I found I had hooked up the primary IV! Someone tried to help me and hung a mag rider for a pt desperate to go home. I went back after an hour, but she'd not released the clamp, so she had to wait another two hours! My sickest guy, a CHFer did not get what he needed. I left totally exhausted, drained and wondering really if this is worth it. One of my pts, a young girl who was no trouble, shocked me by giving me a lovely card and a rose to thank me for being kind. Her previous experiences were that nurses were mean! This and this was one of my failed IV attempts! Actually it made me sad, because the work I can enjoy and be good at, but its the BS that just gets in the way. The CNA's who are telling you why they can't help before you finish your sentence, the radiology staff who can't do a stat MRI because they are at home and can I call the doc and argue the point for them, or can I come down for the CT with the chest tube because the CT nurse wont do it, the pharmacy who cant send my meds up on time and can I come and get it. The central supply people who can't keep us stocked so I have to get it if I want it! Now I am venting!!! Have been a nurse for 16 years and this job is killing me. Anyway, back to the point. This is my 3rd hideous shift in 2 weeks. Wonder what the average is?!

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Well said angel337! The OP vent sounds like a typical Nurses day to me. I recall a night from Hell in the ER during a generalized ice storm with multiple MVA's as well as slip and fall cases presenting for treatment to the extent that all rooms were full so that we set up stretchers and Mayo stands with suture sets in the hallway with ERP's and Surgical Residents suturing patients. Of course we had the usual URI, GI bleeds, chest pains, etc. I finished the shift at 11p.m., managed to finish paper work and give report by midnite. At 1 a.m. while eating in a diner I recalled I had forgotten to advise the Night Charge Nurse that I had wheeled a DOA behind a curtain in an alcove adjacent to an equipment storage room. All the paper work had been done and the DOA tagged - I simply forgot to mention it at shift change. I immediately phoned the Night Charge Nurse and listened to a long rant as she had discovered the body on her rounds. We all make mistakes! Don't beat yourself up.

SALTY DOG...YOU HAVE ME HYSTERICAL LOL...THANK GOD THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN TO ME

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

:balloons: (((((hugs to all med/surg nurses onboard)))))

i am a med/surg nurse myself, and the work is harder than most nurses who've never worked med/surg think. :o many days, i leave work wondering why i continue working as a nurse. we do not get enough recognition, assistance on the job, support and encouragement to do what we do day in and day out. :rolleyes:

if there is a seven o'clock med, i would give it when making the six o'clock rounds, and wouldn't think twice about it unless it is a drug that will harm the patient by taking it at that hour. talk to pharmacy and have them explain why the drug is scheduled for 0700, and if it won't bring harm to a patient by giving it earlier, or scheduling it at a different time, then change the time.

nothing should be added to the change of shift times! :nono: patient care is 24/7 so do what you can within your shift knowing nursing is ongoing. what didn't get done on your watch, should be done on the next watch...and so forth. that is just the way inpatient care works. :)

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