Hypothetical scenario: What if..?

[prmenrs]

We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are much worse than others. What if, God forbide, you, or a very good friend, screwed up? Big time. Like a med error that resulted in the death of a patient.

Okay, so they're reprimanded, fired, lose their license.

What then? How would someone pull themselves back together enough to get some sort of employment, pay their bills, raise their children, look their spouse in the eye again? Could they ever have any self-esteem again?

As I said, it's a HYPOTHETICAL situation. Just think about, and share your thoughts...

Thanks.

[Scavenger'sWife, RN]

I think the best way we can protect ourselves and our patients is to not be embarrassed to ask for help when we need it, to step up and say "I have never done this before" when that is the truth, to look up procedures-diagnosis-meds-etc. Of course this doesn't protect us from honest errors, but it helps. I have seen too many nurses who were afraid to admit they didn't know everything. I am precepting a new grad and she ven made the statement to me that she was afraid of looking up a procedure for fear other nurses would think she was incompetent. I sorta scolded her and emphasized that we CAN"T know "everything" and if she is EVER uncertain, or if it has been a long time since being in a certain situation, she should ALWAYS ask, research, etc. Better that she "look like a dufus" (as she put it) that to hurt a patient.

My hospital also de-ciminalized med errors and encourages reporting. The worst thing is LYING and COVERING UP errors, because then no one can fix the problem that caused the error in the first place, not to mention help the patient.

[RoadRunner]

Well said regnurse.

The biggest mistake is to think colleages will not trust you or think you're dumb you if you're "not sure" and ask for advices. In fact, they won't trust you if you act like you know everything and you don't! But, yes, mistakes happen anyway. My biggest fear about being a nurse...

Here's something that happened to me... I once didn't clamp right a drip of Nitro and the patient received a good amount of the perfusion. The patient pressure dropped to 60/30!!. And I almost fainted. Really... My legs suddenly felt like Jello and felt my blood was as cold as ice. He didn't suffer any consequences of it but I was shaken for a couple of days after that. People kept telling me "mistakes happen", I didn't wanted to happen to me! What helped me was the way my colleagues reacted. Some even told me that, knowing the attention I put into my work, if something like that could happen to me, it could really happen to anyone. It was a wake-up call for a lot of us. Experience doesn't give you immunity against mistakes..... And trust is a good thing to earn from your colleagues!

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I think all of us that have been in nursing for any length of time will admit that we have made mistakes. Not all lead to death or disability. In fact, most wouldn't be noticed except that we are conscientious and report it.

I have had two incidents where nurses I have worked with have used drugs while at work. One - when I was the charge nurse and I was unintentionally involved since he had me witness his waste!!! A year after that incident (and I'll admit that I was very angry) he invited those of us that were involved to breakfast and apologized very sincerely!!!

[prmenrs, RN]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!