I made a mistake...feel like crap!

[NurseK08]

I work on a L & D floor. The other night we were very short on nurses. I am still on orientation. I was sent to help out on the post-partum floor for the night. I had 4 patients (8 total when you include the babies). I had one baby that had just had a circumcision. Long story short communication with the previous shift giving report led me to give an EXTRA dose of infant tylenol. The dose was given 7 hours after the dose that the previous shift was given. Now I feel horrible! I can't stop thinking about it.

How bad is this? Of course an incident report was written up on me. No injury was noted.

[Hilinenursegrl]

I'm confused. Baby tylenol is given every 6 if needed so where was the mistake? What was the order for the med?

[NurseK08]

Oh sorry. No the order was for a initial dose right before the circumcision and one 4 hours after. Well those two doses were already given. And then I have an extra dose 6 hours or so after that.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Please, lets keep to the topic - about the med error of tylenol. Thanks...

If you wish to start another thread on a different topic, please do so. Thanks again.

[Eirene, ASN, RN]

The best thing you can do is learn from the situation.

:heartbeat

[Tylerdurden]

Assuming that the patient hasn't turned for the worst over your mistake, I agree that you should take it as a learning experience and leave it there. There's no need to lose sleep over the incident.

Honestly though, let's not forget that all nurses make mistakes. I'm a new grad myself, and know the feeling all too well. But over my 8 months of employment, I have noted that one of the best ways to spot the difference between experienced staff and new grads is in the face of mistakes: new grads (generally) come into a state of panic. An experienced nurse on the other hand doesn't go into a flurry of fear and panic, but instead intervenes appropriately (or finds someone else who knows how to) without bringing any more attention to it than necessary.

I wonder if that's a noted difference between new grads and experienced RN's, the difference in attention they place upon their mistakes. Perhaps discretion is a sign of experience :)