I made my first med error, stupid me, why report it!??

[purse]

I was in the middle of my 8pm med pass and everything that is anything was going on, call bells ringing, people falling you name it. Just as I was about to go into a patients room to give him his pills, another resident rang their call bell, well I must have had the other resident on my mind and grabbed his pills by mistake! I ended up give patient 1 another patients pills. I immediately knew I did it and freaked out. The thought crossed my mind of just not saying anything...but I could never live with myself if something were to happen to the patient because of my error. I confessed what I did to the charge nurse (im a pca) and she freaked out on me, told me i was irresponsible and not paying attention. Well, she was even more mad because she had to call the doctor at 9pm, I told her I would call him if shed like, but apparently doctors, dont communicate with little pcas. All in all the doctor said it would be OK and the pills I gave the resident wouldnt harm him. i had to fill out an incident report and now EVERYONE knows Im the pca who is the idiot and gave the wrong pills...I know everyone knows because the charge nurse told 2 cnas and of course it will get around. Now, an inservice is ordered for "med errors and how to prevent them" on account of me. I am just very upset, because I know fellow PCAs who have done stuff like this and never reported it. It will probably go 'in my file' and now everyone will look at me like a dumb ass. Part of me wishes I just would have NOT reported it, but I think I am overall happy that I got the drs OK, because I would have been worried for days. I know a lot of my coworkers who miss doses, or have given night pills instead of day pills, etc! Nothing like this happens to them! UGHHHH. Thanks for listening to my vent hah.

[86toronado, BSN, RN]

Sorry that happened to you. It seems like you're being punished for doing the right thing. I know how you feel, any time I've made an error like that, I always have that moment of doubt thinking to myself should I really report this? I don't know what the right answer is, but don't worry, in a week or two, something more dramatic will happen, and it will all blow over. No one will even remember it.

[MizzERRN]

I'm a little confused. You said you were a PCA, why were you handing out pills. That's definantly not in the PCA scope of practice, at least where I live

[purse]

Im allowed to pour and pass pills, do some treatments, and blood sugars insulin all that because i am "med trained"

[Cinquefoil]

Ummmm.....you report it because it's better for the patient if every med that goes into their body is known!!! Even a safe-sounding med can become deadly if it interacts badly with someone's system or other meds. Or if they get a "night pill" twice. But you know this already.

It's a shame your workplace doesn't support you.

There are workplaces which will welcome the humility and emphasis on patient safety you showed by reporting. All people who pass meds eventually make med errors. It's good to do your best to avoid them, and if you have too many of them, significantly MORE than your coworkers, I'd consider your facility's response justified. But you just had ONE error, recognized, reported. I think your workplace is out of touch if they're treating this like the end of the world, and I encourage you to move on to where your ethics will be better rewarded.

[mortimer]

You definitely did the right thing by reporting it. You will help alot of people just by going thru it. Yes, now you're all going to have an inservice on safe med passes (because of you) and it will be what saves someone elses butt (or life) down the line. And you will have learned a lesson about being aware and accountable. I have made med errors too, and the panick that sets in when you realize it is terrifying. Try being apart of the inservice. Stand up and say "Hey, this thing happened to me and I hope it can be a learning point for everyone." or whatever......Just breath, its good for you.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

You have to report it....it's the ethical and professional thing to do!!!! YOu need to be professional at all times. I am sorry the nurse has responded in the manner......but you are working on her license. Personally, I am one who probably would not work at a place where I did not pass my own meds, but that is just me. Incident reports do not go "in your file" they go to risk management and are NOT admissable in court unless you document in your nurses notes that one was filled out.

You did the right thing....good for you!!!

[socks341968]

You absolutely did the right thing. Everyone makes mistakes. Now, you have learned from it and will be hypervigilant. If someone else learns from your mistake, then that's a good thing :)

[Mrs. SnowStormRN, RN]

You did the right thing, and I know how you feel. The 1st time I made a med error (and last time I made one) I was freaking out. I was a LPN who generally worked on the skilled care unit, I was pulled to assistant living. Which was huge! I was the only LPN and boy some of those people needed more than assistance. ANYHOW, I went into a room where a husband and wife shared a suite. I put there names on each cup (not great practice either, easy way to make a mistake is by not waiting til in the room to give meds, but when you have a million patients you do things like this - wont work in a place like this again) ANYWAYS, I put the cups down, gave the husband his meds and while this was occurring the wife was yelling help from the restroom. I ran to the bathroom to help her, when I returned the husband had taken her meds too!!! Needless to say they were just vitamins (women vitamins,lol!) but harmless to him, thank God. I went to the LTC side and the LPN there said, "dont say anything." but guilt ate me up, so I called the nurse manager and reported it. She laughed at what he took and said, "it happens, just dont let it happen again." An inservice did happen, and that was ok. I felt really stupid afterwards for just leaving the cup of pills there and kept thinking about how I could have done things differently BUT it has made me hypervigilant and I am EXTRA careful now. Thanks for sharing :)

[muffins20]

You totally did the right thing. You put the patient's safety above your fears and that was the mature thing to do, and it shows that you have integrity compared to those other med passers who don't report their mistakes.

[noahsmama]

The way the charge nurse reacted was completely inappropriate. If that's how people are treated who report their own med errors, then people will stop reporting their own med errors, which actually creates a much more dangerous climate potentially leading to a far more serious outcome. It's too bad your CN doesn't understand this.

[kakamegamama]

You did the right thing. Imagine if you hadn't, and it turned out that the med WAS dangerous to the patient? And, if an inservice results because of your error, it is to the benefit of others as well as yourself. NEVER, let what others think or how they act prevent you from doing the right thing.