I've been an RN for 3 years and I just made my first medication error. It was a nightmare of a day and...well, I've had some really bad experiences on this unit due to staffing. I've been telling myself not to go back there, not to allow myself to be put in that position again, or something really bad might happen one day. I've seen it happen to other people, too.
My thing is...how do you deal with this? The patient seems to be ok, but I feel awful. It very easily could have been a different outcome. I've never felt so guilty in my life. I feel like it's kicked my legs out from under me and I don't have confidence in myself as a nurse anymore. This is all I've ever really wanted to do, and now I'm not sure if I should do it anymore.
Thanks for the fond memories of Med passing!!!!! It really did have some people leave you alone when you had that med cart, but the down side was they could always find you, hust by LOOKING FOR THE CART!!!!!
I loved reading this- I'm a new nurse and I like to read when older, wiser and more experienced nurses share their nostalgic feelings. Pls keep them coming;)
Hi, I'M new to this site and i had almost the same situations as you did. I've being a nurse for a year and made my first medication error. I took care of this patient for three days and gave her flagyl PO which she was allergy to. I was giving report to oncoming nurse who also took care of the patient for three days and she was the one who brought that to my attention. I know she was allergy to it but for some reason i missed it. Thank God the patient had no reaction to the med and even the husband didn't know she had any allergies to the med. I can't stop thinking about it and i feel so stupid. Now i feel like the nurse probably think i'm an awful and unsafe nurse.
I'm not a nurse, actually an airline pilot and every other weekend hospital pharmacist..........last weekend, I was the pharmacist-in-charge (whatever that means, and one of our pharmacist's (a Ph.D candidate, not a PharmD.) dispensed MS contin 100mg tabs instead of the 30mg tags ordered to a nursing home and they gave a bunch of them (via NG tube) to a resident..Somehow we caught the error (a few minutes AFTER the nursing home had administered the 100mg tablets).....I called and told them of the error and a fast-thinking nurse used a Toomey syringe to suck the incorrent tabs right back out, undissolved....thank God for that nurse! my hands were shaking on the phone and I probably needed new underwear (sorry, I'm 55 and flying an Airbus is less stressful that healthcare)..............keep med errors to a minimum, but they happen,,,,,,,,,,,I probably have made far more than I know... I was a patient and got sent home with a hickman catheter for IV antibiotics (spinal infection)....I kept working and was discharged with heparin 10,000units/ml (sub-Q) heparin rather than the 100 unit/ml lock flush that I was supposed to use. The VNA made a mistake....consequences? none....i told the nurse who made the error to forget it; the vials of heparin look similar and she won;t do it again..I'm still glad she was my nurse, med error or not..don;t be too hard on yourself and administrators: seek to minimize the errors, but don;t hurt anyone's career...we are all human
I have been a new nurse for approximately 4 months. I have started my RN career in a Pediatric hematology/rheum/immunolgy setting. I made my first med error after only being off orientation for 2 weeks. I accidently gave solumedrol 15 mg/1.5ml subcutaneously instead of lovenox. I did my five med rights, checked the patient, mom was at bed side. I went in a systematic way, did my oral medications first, then went to do my subcutaneous, then my IV. Thant is when I realized that I had grabbed the wrong medication. I noticed that when I went to put my IV soluemedrol on the pump that it was the lovenox. I had attached the needle to the solumedrol and administered it subcutaneously. The child mentioned that it had burned but I didnt think anything of it since lovenox does burn. I immediately gathered my supplies, medications and went to my charge nurse. I was so horrified and upset. I am a mother and I know how upset I would be if the roles would have been reversed. I am now questioning my self and whether this is the profession that I should be in. I always wanted to be a peds nurse, and now fail, I unintentionally made a medication error on child and created more doubt in a family that is already scared about what they are facing with their childs health. I later had to change out tubing on another child who had, TPN, lipids, PCA morphine, fluids and chemotherapy to be started that same evening. The lines were a mess when I went into the room, I applied a systematic approach and started with one line at a time. The lines were such a mess that it took forever. Soon, after I have the fluids hung, i move to the TPN and lipids, lines are primed, I go to open the PCA pump and attach, prime that line, I hook up to the child and everything is going then dad and I realize that their is air in the line and so I unattach the tubing, prime again to get out the air. But dad notices a bubble in the CVL line. My charge nurse then comes in and says that is okay, so I hook back up. However, I was going to take out the bubble and get the air out of the line. Then I started questioning myself on why it took me so long to do all of these new tubing lines and what is appropriate amount of air in the line to not freak out about. In school I was taught no air period!!! Now I feel like I am a hotmess, all of my co-workers im sure will be aware of my mistakes which will lead to me being the talk of the nest few weeks. In the meantime, I am doubting myself, my confidence is shot, and I am now questionging if this is where I am suppose to be. Im truly broken hearted right now
noreenl
325 Posts
Thanks for the fond memories of Med passing!!!!! It really did have some people leave you alone when you had that med cart, but the down side was they could always find you, hust by LOOKING FOR THE CART!!!!!