I'm so upset, first med error!

[v.dan23]

Okay I'm a first semester nursing student and I have been doing so well in clinicals until yesterday.... I was giving my patients his meds and he suppose to get 24 Units of insulin and another dose of 30 Units... I gave him the 30 units and ended up tossing away his insulin pen in the trash by accident!! I was so scared, my instructor was upset and we ended up getting him a new pen and he was late for his 24 Units of insulin. I was so upset I also forgot to sign off of my meds too but I ended up fixing those. My instructor told me I've been doing fine, I just have to go to a meeting Thursday to discuss what happened, and I'm terrified!! I know it's silly of me to worry so much but will I fail my clinicals because of this?

[203bravo, MSN, APRN]

Just a couple of points about this post jump out and you need to be ready to address them during the meeting:

1) you tossed the pen in the trash or in the sharps container? It's pretty bad form to put anything that contains a needle in the "trash" weather the needle is exposed or not... This could be a major safety concern

2) was the patient getting additional 30 units of the same insulin because of a glucose reading - or - was the patient getting another type of insulin? If it was a different type did the patient get the correct type with the first dose? such as a quick acting insulin prior to a meal?

3) did the patient have any adverse effects secondary to the delay in the second dose?

4) who is going to be expected to absorb the cost of the additional insulin pen? Is the hospital going to cover it or will they expect the school to cover it?

5) was there a licensed RN with you while administering the insulin? Everywhere I'm familiar with requires 2 RN verification for every administration of insulin... if there was an RN with you, did they attempt to stop you from trashing the insulin pen?

When in your meeting be honest and humble.. you realized you have made a mistake, but be ready to present a well thought out plan on how you will not allow this to happen again.

[v.dan23]

1. I took the needle off the insulin pen to throw into the the sharps container and ended up tossing both the pen and the needle

2.It was two different doses of insulin, he did receive the first dose

3. He was fine, I checked up on him and everything was okay

4. The cost wasn't really brought up, but I think it will be covered during the meeting

5. My clinical instructor was there watching me administer my meds, and I threw away the pen so fast that I couldn't catch myself.

And thank you, I really do feel terrible for this

[203bravo, MSN, APRN]

There is no reason to feel terrible -- mistakes happen to everyone.... the since there seems to be no safety concern and no patient detriment.. learn from it and get stronger... :)