I made a huge mistake...very nervous about my future

Princess74 · Sep 18, 2005

Everyone makes mistakes and you seem to have handled yours extreemly well. I'm sure that everything will work out just fine. You are going to make a great nurse:)

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Sep 18, 2005

Look at the positives:
You realized your mistake...which shows you're conscientious.
You didn't try to "hide" your mistake...you owned it.
You have a plan for improvement.
You're human, and you will make mistakes. At least you didn't try to make excuses like so many I've seen :uhoh21:

I totally agree.

Take a deep breath. You did great after realizing your error. You'll be FINE.

KUDOS to you. :icon_hug:

Relax. :)

SusanJean · Sep 19, 2005

You made a mistake, took action to correct it. Make a plan so it doesn't happen again - you are a student and learning.

All my clinical profs have said we will make mistakes, are expected to make mistakes; we are learning. And, as nurses, we will continue to make mistakes. We need to correct them so harm to the pt is minimized.

One clinical prof said if we don't make mistakes we are not working...

Just a bit of irony... med students are told to expect to kill at least one person in the course of their learning. Go figure...

SJ

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2005

Did any interventions happen because of your mistake, such as giving an incorrect dosage of insulin.

The good thing is that you recognized your mistake, you called your instructor and admitted it and you learned from it.

I get busy, disorganized and scatterbrained myself. Just yesterday I had to stop, breathe and say "don't let your guard down". I've learned the hard way, that's when I make mistakes.

Good luck.

RN007 · Sep 20, 2005

Hang in there! We're all in this together. Be sure and let us know what happens.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2005

You did the right thing. You realized your mistake and took the right actions to get it corrected. I think all us old timer RNs have done something similar to this over our careers and handled it the same way. I think your instructors will look at your overall performance and consider your honesty and responsiblity and that you fulfilled your obligation to the patient.

Don't beat yourself up over this. No one is perfect and can instantly recall all the blood pressures and blood sugars we take on patients over our shifts we work. So, you write them down somewhere. I worked on a very busy stepdown unit for many years. We followed a 3-11 shift RN who would come into report with blood pressures, temperatures and blood sugars written all over the palms of both hands! This was every shift! Want to know Mr. Smith's blood pressure, hold on, let me check and she would consult her palm. :chuckle

I think that if you were going to be disciplined by the school it would have happened already. That said, please realize that other students who are dismissed from nursing programs have not always told you everything about their failure in the program. Some people do some pretty embarassing things that they won't talk about to others. The instructors have to abide by each student's confidentiality, so you are never going to know the whole story on those who were dismissed.

jalvino1 · Sep 20, 2005

Punished?! You should be congraduated!

A good nurse isn't defined by perfection. A good nurse is one who responds appropriately to bad situations. You made a mistake, you fested up, and you learned form it.

Example: when I was in nursing school another student asked for my help and she looked panicked. the patient was admitted for a broken leg and she was trying to move him, but he kept screaming in agony. I didn't know how to properly move him myself so I said I'll get our instructor, and her response was "NO! I'll get in trouble! just help me move him!" I ofcourse did not want to compromise his safety and got te instructor.

Bottom Line: You cared more for the patients' safety than you did your own future. You will not get punished, if anything you should be congradulated.

p.s. you're future is not in danger... based on your actions, you'll be a great nurse.

Mona Mona, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2005

Whatever happened, kk2000?

I hope it turned out all right for you. I am like you, and worry about everything. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night NOW worrying about stupid little things, and I only work part time at a very easy job and am taking my pre-requisite classes. What about when I'm in nursing school!? :uhoh21:

Please update us. I'd like to know what happened. :)

DusktilDawn · Sep 20, 2005

I want to thank all of you that responded.
I will probably be stressed out until I find out exactly what is in store for me.
I am not naive enough to think that I won't make many, many mistakes as a student or as a nurse, but some instructors can be a bit harsh. (I am an older student and have seen some unbelievable things!)
Somtimes it seems to me that students can be "sacrificed" to teach the other students a lesson! Just hoping that it is not me being thrown in the volcano!
thanks again everyone.
K-

:yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

You did exactly the right thing when you realized you made an error. The important thing is that the patient is alright. Those instances when students seemed to be "sacrificed" to teach the other students a lession, don't be surprised if there is more to those stories than what has been told.

Right now I think your beating yourself up more than anyone else is going to over this. You took responsiblity and in so doing prevented an error before if actually occurred, thus preventing harm to the patient. SOOOOO here's a :icon_hug: and keep us posted.

Califlower · Sep 20, 2005

You are very brave for coming forth and admitting your error as soon as you learned of it, which prevented patient harm. I think you should be commended for that -- by the way you sound, I think you have gone way above and beyond learning your lesson.

SkanauxRN2009 · Sep 21, 2005

Hello,
I made a HUGE mistake on Wednesday of last week. I haven't seen my clinical instructor or been at the hospital since then, so I am a bit worried about my future.
To make a long story short, I was helping a fellow student at the end of the day by doing an accucheck for her. (I offered) I was having problems with the machine, I guess I was doing something wrong, or it was malfunctioning, either way I ended up sticking the client twice. I was distracted and flustered and to be honest I was in a hurry.
Needless to say, I ended up writing down the wrong reading on the patient chart.
Now, understand I have absolutely no excuse for this. I was distracted and in a hurry and it took me a while to get out of he room and I put down the # of a pt I had earler that day. I used one sheet of scratch paper that I take notes on throughout the day.
Anyway, on my way home it hit me! i called the instructor who was thankfully still there and the nurse had not given the insulin and they rechecked and all ended up ok.
I have spent the weekend making a sheet that will hopefully help me from my messy scatch paper that I write on.
Bottom line: the instructor did not elaborate on what was to happen to me because of my error. i know that the school and the hospital have a say in this and I am beside myself. I do not normally make this kind of error. I do well with the patients, meds, classwork. This would be considered my first error of any type.
I am jut glad that I did catch this, but I am so ashamed and am wondering if I am cut out for this? I have definately learned a lesson and I think that my work sheet I have made will help me instead of just using a scratch sheet for my notes.
Any advice would be appreciated. D you think I am going to be kicked out?
i have such a bad feeling.
Thanks

I am a former nurse assistant, who used to check blood sugars on my patients. What I always did was to immediately chart the sugar reading in the patients chart after I did the test. Another good thing to do is when feeling rushed, just take a deep breath, and make sure your doing everything step by step. Don't worry about being late for the next item on the agenda. Just focus on the immediate task at hand. You did the right thing by calling the instructor. If you had charted the patient had a high reading and someone gave them insulin, imagine the consequences that could have happened. I don't know if you can chart in the patients chart outside their door, or if it is hanging on the bed. It is alot easier to not forget it, that way. Hang in there. Don't get rushed and you will do fine.

kk2000 · Sep 23, 2005

Well, I went back to clinicals and thank goodness, it all went fine.

It doesn't seem there is going to be any fall out from my error and I sure did learn a valuable lesson.

I can't thank all you enough. I can't tell you what your support and suggestions have meant to me.

For us students, it seems that at times we run across instructors and medical professionals that can be kind of discouraging. it's very uplifting to come here and see this kind of support.

thanks again!

K-