I made a med error :(

[hollya5334, LPN]

Yesterday, one of my residents was changed from Bactrim DS to Ceftin for her UTI. Well, the day shift nurse (who just happens to be my best friend) pulled Cephilaxin from the starter box. I TRIPLE checked it and STILL didnt catch it!! I feel REAALLLLY bad! I just hope it doesn't hurt her!!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Oh, goodness, no. It's an antibiotic, not a double dose of dig.

[clee1]

Relax.

If this is the worst med error you every make, consider yourself (and you pts) very lucky.

The two big dangers with ABX are 1) allergic reaction and 2) ineffectiveness against a specific pathogen.

In this case, if the pt didn't have a reaction, no harm done.

[tencat]

It sounds like the patient will be ok. She's not allergic to it, so no harm no foul. It's good to try to analyze why the error ocurred so that you can learn from it. I've made an error that was my fault for not making ABSOLUTELY sure that the dosage was indeed what I thought it was, and not the concentration of the solution. BUT....the order was unclear and written wrong on the MAR. No harm to the patient, thank God! But my point is that errors often are a system issue, not just an individual nurse issue. Learn from it and grow as a nurse. :)

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

It hurts to make a med error.

What did you learn? What in the process can be changed - such as not letting someone else pull your meds? What will you do to ensure it won't happen again.

Been there and done that.

[dazey71]

I'd probably freak out at first, but in the long run, look at it as a learning experience. You caught it, no harm done, and I doubt you'll not catch something like that again.

[allantiques4me]

i remember back in the day I gave apatient an extra antibiotic.I was very upset.The other nurses told me not to even report it as a med error.,its a great thing you are so consiencious (sp??)Remember we are patient advocates.Its not all about us.Im sure there was no harm done.But ya probably need to follow the policy on med errors.

[hollya5334, LPN]

Thanks, everybody!! I really am thankful that the resident has NKA. I guess i forgot to mention it was my first med error too. I feel much better about it now, i talked to the RN supervisor about it last night. I just hope my unit manager has the same outlook you guys do when she talks about it with me tomorrow. :) I always knew I could count on my Allnurses family :)

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Mt first was giving patient in B bed the Tylenol 3 that was supposed to go to Bed A. I cried and cried. The supervisor pointed out that the man wasn't harmed and in fact also HAD an order for Tylenol 3. She was so kind but I still felt like shoe bottom gunk.

[GingerSue]

what did the patient say when you informed?

(in my location it is now required that any patient who has received a medication error be informed of it, by the nurse)

fortunately, it sounds like this med error didn't harm the patient, so this makes it a learning opportunity - which of the 5 rights didn't get checked?