I harmed my first patient today.

[starwarrior]

I am a nursing student, and I made my first mistake. My clinical instructor gave me permission to remove a Foley catheter on a male. I've done several times before by myself. Long story short, I deflated the balloon and pulled back on the syringe to make sure all of the saline is out. After I was sure the balloon was deflated I tell the patient to take a deep breath in and let it out, and as he exhaled, I pulled the catheter.

When I pulled it out I saw blood. It was not a lot but it was enough for me to be concerned about. Also, my patient was in pain.

I cleaned him off and called for the nurse. And she assessed him and said that everything was going to be fine. I apologized 1000 times to the patient. He was understanding and said that it did not hurt that bad.

I informed my clinical instructor of the situation. And we went through the steps that I had taken to see where it went wrong. All I could do was cry. I just harmed a patient.

Later that afternoon I checked on the patient again to make sure he was feeling okay. He reassured me that he was fine, and said that I should not let this weigh on me.

I feel terrible for causing the patient pain.

This is the first time I've ever messed up. I thought I took all of the correct step, but I still caused my patient unnecessary pain.

Please offer any advice or words of wisdom that might help me learn from this and move forward. Again I was taught to attach the syringe, let it fill with NS, and then aspirate to make sure there is no more fluid left in the bulb. If you have another technique that will prevent this from happening again, please share!

[synaptic]

lol what how did you harm him? you pulled it out after deflating the balloon. a little bit of blood is normal with some people especially the frail and if they are on thinners. chill out and stop crying jeez your reminding me of my wife.

[Julius Seizure]

I once worked on a floor where a patient require multiple units of blood after a foley cath insertion. And that wasn't nurse error either. Stuff happens.

[acerbia]

I've inserted a foley on a male patient, without resistance and no blood in the urine return, etc. When I removed it later, there was blood on the end. The balloon was fully deflated, and I don't think he had any documented prostate issues. I charted that, told the doc, and that was it. Sometimes people have really unexpected responses to things (procedures, meds, treatment, etc.) and there's no way to tell what that response will be.

Bank this experience in your memory and learn from it, and try to find something positive in it. Next time you have to remove a Foley, deflate the balloon twice (just to be sure), take your time, and provide comfort to your patient. (Pre-medicating is a good idea, if there's an order.) Now you know exactly what could happen with a "difficult" Foley d/c, and you can use that to better prepare for the next one.

[Ms_barnesRN]

Woahh where was your clinical instructor/a nurse while you were doing this? Someone is supposed to be supervising you whenever you do skills! It doesn't seem like you did anything wrong, but someone else is supposed to be there to tell you to stop if you are about to harm the pt. I thought this was standard protocol for students.

At the end of my clinical years we were about to do skills by ourselves after being checked off, so there my be different hospital and school standard protocol.

[Tabithaa711]

We're human. We make mistakes. You'll never make that mistake again. Don't be too hard on yourself :)