I notified the wrong family of a death

[kcmRN]

Tonight, I made the worst mistake of my career. I work part-time in an LTC facility. In a rush to call a very caring family to notify them of the death of their loved one, I pulled the wrong chart...I called the wrong family. This family member I called came out to the facility and hugged me. She told me it was ok, that she forgives me, but I can't get this out of my head. I can never take those word back, or make this un-happen. How do I get past this?

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

If this is really your worst mistake ever I would say that you are doing ok. maybe you will look back at this with a laugh.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

We are not minimizing the error but rather in the context of nursing care, its not the worst mistake ever made.

Learn from your error and go on.

[Cat_RN, ASN, BSN, RN]

I was wrongly notified of my Fathers death and it was not alright with me. I was deeply upset and am still affected...

Well, I am sure the nurse did not do it on purpose and more than likely feels worse about it than you do. I know I would, especially if it really upset the family. I don't know how I'd get over it!

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I was wrongly notified of my Fathers death and it was not alright with me. I was deeply upset and am still affected...

I am sorry you experienced this......I would be deeply upset too.....but we are human and we make mistakes, I do find it strange however that you joined today and found this post and commented. I apologize for your pain and you are right it is not funny. Notifying patients families is probably one of the worse tasks that we perform. Every attempt is always made to make sure that this does NOT occur.

My prayers for you to find peace.:redpinkhe

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

A co-worker of mine did the same thing in LTC. She had two patients with the same name with a slight variation. I think it was like Mary Jones and Merry Jones or Mary Jonez and Mary Jones..whatever it was you get the point.

Long story short the happenings prior to her calling the family was such that it was hectic, unexpected and just in a nutshell INSANE to say the least. We were all shaken up by it. She scanned the chart rack to pull the deceased's chart and mistakenly grabbed the wrong one..ending up in her calling the wrong family. Like your family, they were very understanding. Luckily during the call my co worker said something like "Ann..blah blah..." Well "ann" said Nancy Nurse, did you call me Ann..?? since the wrong family member wasn't named Ann..the deceased patients family members name was...

I too notified the wrong family member of something. It wasn't a death. My two residents had the EXACT same name..their rooms were next to each other. My resident had fallen, we shipped her out to the ER. I called her daughters home, no answer, called her cell phone and got her. Explained that Mom had fallen and that the resident was currently in the ambulance in transit to the ER..daughter answers with a big belly laugh and said..oh yeah...I then hear my name being called..I glace down the hall to see her on the phone with her mom in the w/c..waving at me, laughing and talking to ME! Ughhhh! She never let me live that one down. That made me double, triple an quadruple check that I have the right patients chart.

Don't beat yourself up. We all make mistakes. The family member was ok enough with it that they hugged you.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Geez, are people never going to understand that nurses are imperfect humans just like everyone else? No matter how hard they try they cannot be perfect. The unrealistic expectations are so unfair.

Callous disregard for standards is one thing, but honest mistakes are a whole different thing.

I sure hope the OP has gotten past this. Hate to lose an obviously caring and responsible nurse this way.

[Voice for theFamily]

Not an RN just an LPN and a daughter.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Heh. I hovered and cracked up.

I'm glad the family was okay with it.

:)

[Voice for theFamily]

No I would say it was about the 8th or 9th worst mistake. My mom was accidently over medicated prior to being transferred to another hospital and coded (this was not the worst either) we are very happy that she made it off the vent and is still alive today. My point is you can have a great waitress and a good waitress or a waitress who was great and now is simply a good waitress. Now substitute the word teacher, policeman, receptionist and yes even sometimes nurse.

[rn/writer, RN]

Not an RN just an LPN and a daughter.

You aren't "just" an LPN. You're a valuable member of the nursing world.

I'm sorry mistakes were made with your mother.