Long story short, I almost passed a med to a patient without the instructor directly present.
Short story long, one of my postpartum patients was in pain and asked for a percocet to help relieve the pain. I told my instructor about the complaint and she went to the medcart and withdrew the narcotic and gave it to me to hold. Meanwhile, she was documenting on the computer another medication withdrawl for another student.
Me, not thinking went into the patients room and opened the med and put it in her hand. My instructor walks in and sees me and takes it back to properly document and administer.
Today, I was called to the directors office and had to recall the incident. I confessed the truth to what had happened and was told in lieu of dismissal, I had to write a paper on the Patient Safety Goals and was suspended from attending this weeks clinical, which I think is a fair punishment.
I just had to get this out so it's not stuck on my head all semester. The only thing I'm worried about is this somehow biting in the butt in the long run... which something tells me it will.
You are extremely lucky you got a second chance. I was once kicked out of a program for not checking an armband. It was my first time passing meds in clinicals with my instructor. I was extremely nervous as it was my first time back in school in some time and I simply forgot. She caught it tough, reminded me, I checked it and we moved on. I was put on probation and six weeks later I was out. The worst part is I have no recourse. I went to the director, 2 deans and a counselor and nobody could/would do anything. I think it's all about the money. They are taking our money and not giving us what we pay for. We are students, they are teachers, so teach for gosh sakes! We learn from our mistakes. If we did everything right from the get go what do we need them for.
Oh Wow, you are one lucky person. My instructor is never present when I pass meds. She is only responsible for checking the meds with me she doesn't have to be in the room. Good luck to you and be careful.
My patient was complaining of pain. I told my instructor about it and she said that she told me to medicate her for pain at the 5 o clock med pass. Well that came, and I reminded her again. She went to the medication cart and withdrew the medication for me and gave it to me. We then walked to the MAR to document it (it's all computerized, so you really can't mess up the five rights).
She was with another student doing their documentation, so me, thinking that she knew I had to give it my patient, walked into the room to give the medication to the patient. I was INTENDING to keep the label of the medication so she could document it seeing as she was right outside the room. It didn't work like that and she came in and intervened before I could administer it to her.
janice o. lvn
11 Posts
You are extremely lucky you got a second chance. I was once kicked out of a program for not checking an armband. It was my first time passing meds in clinicals with my instructor. I was extremely nervous as it was my first time back in school in some time and I simply forgot. She caught it tough, reminded me, I checked it and we moved on. I was put on probation and six weeks later I was out. The worst part is I have no recourse. I went to the director, 2 deans and a counselor and nobody could/would do anything. I think it's all about the money. They are taking our money and not giving us what we pay for. We are students, they are teachers, so teach for gosh sakes! We learn from our mistakes. If we did everything right from the get go what do we need them for.