I made a med error

[Curlup]

I have been a RN for a little over 2 years.I was working on an inpt. Rehab unit for 15months when the Hospital i worked for had a Layoff. Ihave been laid off for 4months when I was called in to work a midnight shift. At the end of my shift I was in a hurry to leave and I made a serious med error. MY patient was to have 26 units of lantus insulin form an insulin pen and I was in a hurry and grabbed the Novolog flexpen instead. Idid have another RN double check the order and dosage on the e-mar but i must have had my hand over the name and we both did not check the name of the med. I have given this med many times and have always done my checks and had it confirmed by another Rn with no problems. I have no excuse for this.I had to call the MD and nursing supervisor and report the error. appoligise to the PT. and his spouse fill out incident reports. Md gave new orders which we implimented. the pt. was very angry but was had no adverse reactions and was evetually able to go home. How do I get over this? I am supposed to work today for another nurse and I am sick about going and have lost all confidence in my nursing abilities.

[leosasha]

What is the saying, " To err is human. To forgive is divine". You need to forgive yoursel and move on. I have respect for the fact that you took responsibility for the error. It won't be your last. Nursing is not a perfect science, it is an art.

[Amy2005]

Yes, you made a error, and it is from this error that you have learned

a valuable lesson. You did report it and this shows that you are responsible. Fortunately, no harm occurred for the patient.

Reflect on how this can be prevented in your future practice.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

anyone who claims to have never made a med error is either brand new, lying or too dumb to realize they've made an error! no one is perfect. you realized that you made an error and then you did exactly the right thing: you admitted it and set about to rectify the situation. congratulations. you're a keeper!

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

One of the reasons why they call medicine and nursing a practice is because it literally is...we learn from our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others. It doesn't feel great when they are made, but it does make us remember not to do it again. In fact, I learned from yours...to be sure that I bring the bottle of insulin, heparin or opioid or anything else that has to be double checked to a secondary nurse so that we are both clear on what we witnessed.

Did they speak of penalizing you? If not, then, be more alert and diligent and move on. I don't say this as a brush off, but as a reality. You are still a good nurse!

[lovehospital]

It's obvious that you care about your patient wellbeing. Don't beat yourself up over this anymore, learn from your mistake. I once gave a dose of novarapid instead of actrapid and yes checked with another RN and everything. Sometimes when your busy and your thinking about too many things at once you just forget the most simplest of things.

Are nursing students allowed to give opioids to patients without being supervised? Was an RN present when you gave it? Sorry don't want to sound like I'm having a go at you but in Australia a student nurse isn't allowed to administer ANY drug without being directly supervised and an opioid has to be given by an RN only with another nurse (can be an EN) present to make sure that the drug is being given to the patient and that the nurse isn't secretly keeping it for themselves.

It was a mixture of Tylenol with a narcotic,so it wasnt as potent as pure opioid...We arent allowed to give narcs through IV as a nursing students plus I dont have the key...

[CABG patch kid, BSN, RN]

I've made a few med errors and every single time it was because I was in a hurry. I have to remind myself that I'd rather take an extra hour on a med pass and do it right than hurry through it with mistakes.

It happens to all of us :) Just be thankful the patient was okay!

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

oh sweetie, i am so sorry this happened.

just learn from it and move on. no one was hurt thank god. no doubt, you will never do this again. best of luck to you !

praiser :heartbeat