Ok, today on clinical my partner drew up some ativan. It was 2mg/1mL. Dose is 0.5mg .She drew up all 1mL into a 1mL syringe. She thought it was 0.5mL , temporary lapse in judgement. Shows the syringe to the instructor and Primary Nurse ( whos in the med room with her watching her draw it up ) alerts her of the correct dose. She fixes it and wastes the ativan up to 0.25mL which is the correct dosage.
we cant do IV pushes alone, so the primary was with her when administering the ativan.
We go to lunch, she gets back and our instructor pulls her to the side and explains that she incorrectly calculated the dosage, and she is getting an unsatisfactory for the clinical day (even though she rocked it out passing a crazy amount of meds to 5 patients today), and explained that shes gonna do med passes with her for the next 4 weeks.
heres how i see it. shes a student. shes learning, she mixed up her dosage/ concentration the instructor let her know, and it was a LEARNING experience. She did not admin the incorrect dose to the patient and the patient was not harmed in any way.
I dont see why she needs to do this to her. at this level of the game its a bit degrading. and i feel like shes being picked on rather than coached.
Am i being naive in the way im viewing this ...maybe someone else or another nurse can provide some insight for me?
She was feeling really upset and frustrated and sad about it and i just told her to suck it up bc we're almost done ...ya know =/
I would rather have the instructor accompany me while I did my meds for four weeks, than to be told then and there that I failed, or had another incident down the road that resulted in my failure of the course for the term. I would surmise that the student is quite careful after having the instructor's attention for four weeks. After all, that is what they get paid for. Too many instructors would not even given this added attention to a student.
Actually, to me it seems like the instructor is going out of her way to help her succeed. When someone takes the time to point out the fact that you are making an error, you need to look past your ego and remember that person is taking time to help you. Taking 4 weeks to make sure the student gets it right instead of telling her nothing and flunking her at the end of the semester. Feedback is good. I've had ASL courses where you had no idea how you were doing until like 8 weeks into the semester, and then 1/3 of your grade has been decided.
This is an old thread, but I will share my experiences. I'm a little OCD with my calculation even though I'm competent in mathematics beyond the conversion level and comfortable to tutor at college algebra level. However, I have colleagues who struggle to figure out which one is the numerator and in the denominator and etc related to the drips and dosage. I know that I can make mistakes so I do ALWAYS double-check my calculation. My other professors certainly aware that I'm good at calculation, but they have witnessed that I still double-check to lessen or prevent an error dosage calculation.
Fast forward, my CI has been giving me more assignments than any other student. No floor nurses complain about me, but for some reason, my CI spends more time on me than other students. Lol. Whatever she is trying to convey to me, I'll just do the right things.
“Fast forward, my CI has been giving me more assignments than any other student. No floor nurses complain about me, but for some reason, my CI spends more time on me than other students.”
Take heart...sometimes instructors see a student with aptitude and challenge them so they become the best they can be.
caliotter3
38,333 Posts
I would rather have the instructor accompany me while I did my meds for four weeks, than to be told then and there that I failed, or had another incident down the road that resulted in my failure of the course for the term. I would surmise that the student is quite careful after having the instructor's attention for four weeks. After all, that is what they get paid for. Too many instructors would not even given this added attention to a student.