Is it possible to lose my license for this error?

offlabel · Mar 11

Chill out. Med error. If licensing were revoked for that, there'd be no nurses. You caught it right away, self reported and, presumably because you didn't say, there were no serious consequences as a result. Just keep copies of your documentation of the event. Go on with your life and if you quit, it shouldn't be for this.

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Mar 11

I highly doubt it. You did made an error, reported it , and now is the time to review, reflect and move on. That is one of those errors you will m probably never make again!

k1p1ssk, BSN, RN · Mar 11

I share this only to reassure you, because I understand it is not the same thing, but I'd like to put your error in perspective for you (that it was a mistake, one in which A) no harm seems to have been ultimately been done and B) one you have owned up to in a timely manner and clearly learned from).

When I worked inpatient, I had a newborn patient who was being worked up for possible sepsis. The standard care set for these babies included IV vancomycin, which is highly caustic and requires careful monitoring of the IV site. At change of shift, the IV site was working perfectly, fluids were running well, and nothing was amiss. However, a couple hours into the shift, the baby was crying and the mom couldn't figure out what was wrong; I re-checked the IV and saw that it had started to infiltrate. I followed the protocol, which included pulling the IV and paging the surgical residents. There was paperwork I needed to file, and ultimately, no harm was done, and I was actually commended for my swift action.

Shortly after this happened, another nurse on the unit, did not complete the routine IV check on a nearly identical patient; Because of her negligence, the baby received an entire dose of IV Vanco followed by 2+hours of fluids into his infiltrated IV. Over the course of the shift, the tissue in his poor little hand started to die and his hand turned purple. The nurse saw what was happening, and did nothing (which she admitted to during the investigation). It wasn't caught until after the change of shift. The hospital gave her two options: Resign or stay on but be placed on unpaid admin. leave, be reported to the BON, and take your chances. All this to say, a baby nearly lost his hand due to negligence on a nurse's part, and she STILL didn't get reported to the BON.

So, with all that said, you followed all the correct actions, no harm was done, the kiddo is fine, and the parents seem to be OK with the outcomes. Unless there was a demonstrated pattern of mistakes or an effort to conceal the mistake, no one should report you to the BON and your license should be safe.

Tali56 · Mar 11

Thank you for sharing your story with me. My situation is a bit different since school nurses have to fill out a yearly diabetic report form that includes diabetic errors, so someone will know about it.

Tali56 · Mar 11

k1p1ssk said:

I share this only to reassure you, because I understand it is not the same thing, but I'd like to put your error in perspective for you (that it was a mistake, one in which A) no harm seems to have been ultimately been done and B) one you have owned up to in a timely manner and clearly learned from).

When I worked inpatient, I had a newborn patient who was being worked up for possible sepsis. The standard care set for these babies included IV vancomycin, which is highly caustic and requires careful monitoring of the IV site. At change of shift, the IV site was working perfectly, fluids were running well, and nothing was amiss. However, a couple hours into the shift, the baby was crying and the mom couldn't figure out what was wrong; I re-checked the IV and saw that it had started to infiltrate. I followed the protocol, which included pulling the IV and paging the surgical residents. There was paperwork I needed to file, and ultimately, no harm was done, and I was actually commended for my swift action.

Shortly after this happened, another nurse on the unit, did not complete the routine IV check on a nearly identical patient; Because of her negligence, the baby received an entire dose of IV Vanco followed by 2+hours of fluids into his infiltrated IV. Over the course of the shift, the tissue in his poor little hand started to die and his hand turned purple. The nurse saw what was happening, and did nothing (which she admitted to during the investigation). It wasn't caught until after the change of shift. The hospital gave her two options: Resign or stay on but be placed on unpaid admin. leave, be reported to the BON, and take your chances. All this to say, a baby nearly lost his hand due to negligence on a nurse's part, and she STILL didn't get reported to the BON.

So, with all that said, you followed all the correct actions, no harm was done, the kiddo is fine, and the parents seem to be OK with the outcomes. Unless there was a demonstrated pattern of mistakes or an effort to conceal the mistake, no one should report you to the BON and your license should be safe.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. My situation is a bit different since school nurses have to fill out a yearly diabetic report form that includes diabetic errors, so someone will know about it. I didn't want to continue working here so I'm worried someone will falsely fill out the information, and I also don't want to keep student information, as that could be a hippa violation. Either way, I don't know what to do in this situation.

Tali56 · Mar 11

offlabel said:

Chill out. Med error. If licensing were revoked for that, there'd be no nurses. You caught it right away, self reported and, presumably because you didn't say, there were no serious consequences as a result. Just keep copies of your documentation of the event. Go on with your life and if you quit, it shouldn't be for this.

I can't keep student document information with me as it is a HIPAA violation, and there has been a school nurse who received a reprimand on her license for the same thing, so finding a new job after that would be pretty much impossible, so I can't just "chill out".

Editorial Team / Admin · Mar 11

If you really want to put your mind at ease, go onto your state board of nursing website and find the list of disciplinary actions. You'll find that when licenses are suspended or revoked, it almost never has to do with a medication error. Current top 3 for my state:

1. Drug use interfering with safe practice

2. Criminal conviction

3. Violating a previous board order (probably from 1 or 2)

seedanurse · Mar 11

Tali56 said:

I can't keep student document information with me as it is a HIPAA violation, and there has been a school nurse who received a reprimand on her license for the same thing, so finding a new job after that would be pretty much impossible, so I can't just "chill out".

Then there's your answer. You can be reprimanded. None of us are going to know if you can lose your license over this. Call the BON and ask if you are that worried.

Tali56 · Mar 11

seedanurse said:

Then there's your answer. You can be reprimanded. None of us are going to know if you can lose your license over this. Call the BON and ask if you are that worried.

I know that no one is going to know. I just want advice from other school nurses who might have been in this situation or know someone who has.

offlabel · Mar 13

Tali56 said:

I know that no one is going to know. I just want advice from other school nurses who might have been in this situation or know someone who has.

No, we know you're not losing your license over this one isolated event. And school nurses are not some unique species that function under a different set of rules. If there are other, compounding issues that this just adds to, that's different.

JerDJ, BSN · Mar 13

I think you wouldn't be the only one that has had a medication error. You recognized the error and reported it. I think it would have been different if you knew about it but didn't report it.