Injections "D'OH"

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Hello all,

I am new here. I am going to school for my RN. I work in a Medical Office as a CNA. I was prepairing injections and i accidently gave an adult a child's tetorifice shot. I told the physician i work for, and he said it was ok, the only differene with that formulation is that it has pertussis and diptheria in it's formulation. Has anyone ever made this mistake before? I am really embarrassed about this, even thoug the doctor said it would be ok.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

My concern would be do you understand the "why" of the mistake? Are they located in the same place in the refrigerator? Do they need to be labelled better? I would discuss this with the practice manager and work out a better solution so that it doesn't recur.

BTW - you are a CNA and you give medications?

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they were located right next to the adult vaccine. the only difference between the adult and the children's is that the children's had a brown top on it instead of a green top. I also have a Medical Assistant degree, so i have been trained to give injections.

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Medical assistants giving injections is something new to me. I've been seeing it in other threads also. I wonder if it is only some states that allow it. Anyone out there know? Future Nurse, you must remember the five patient rights: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route & right time. If you follow these every time, you won't make mistakes. If you look closely at the two vials you will see that "different colored tops" is NOT the only difference. Good luck in your schooling!

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I'm not mentioning this to make you feel bad, just to provoke thought.

The patient received the DTP vaccine, rather than just the tetorifice portion. That exposed him/her to potential risks and side-effects of 2 unnecessary vaccines. This is akin to injecting a patient with 2 unnecessary medications, a serious concern.

Please work with the clinical manager of your office to prevent this from happening again.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

I am also a Medical Assistant going to school to be a RN. Didn't you learn to check three times before giving an injection? Orders and labels. If not, you should have, and I would advise you put it into use. It may help any future incidences.

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