Yesterday I left a patients bed up to go grab some wipes. My instructor walked in and saw that the bed was in the high position while I was gone. This was what got me kicked out of nursing school.
I always thought that school was a place to learn, and to grow. To make mistakes.
There were other incidences like putting nystatin cream on a patient after report, leaving colace at the bedside because I needed a liquid preparation because my patient wouldn't swallow (d/t confusion), for answering a patients friends question (knowing the patient knew him for 20+ years, but since I did not directly ask permission it was violating hippa, and lastly, for the whole bed incident.
I don't want to blame my clinical instructor for my failure. But I just wish I didn't make those mistakes.
Theantichick, you've summed it up beautifully, and show a true understanding of what it means to learn & grow from experiences. I can see your insight & maturity taking you great places!
Theantichick, you've summed it up beautifully, and show a true understanding of what it means to learn & grow from experiences. I can see your insight & maturity taking you great places!
Thanks! It really shook me when I forgot my gloves. (They were in my pocket, and I put them on when the CI reminded me.) It's been 20 years, but I was a Paramedic and trained during the height of the AIDS scare, and can honestly say I've never *forgotten* them... they've torn on me, but I *always* put them on, until this time. I had prepped everything I needed, but got ahead of myself in the actual admin and want to NEVER do that again. Getting in a rush could have meant a bigger error, so I'm actually glad that it was the gloves I forgot. :) It was a reminder to slow down and not get away from my procedures.
I felt horrible about ever mistake I made and NEVER made them again. It was often a busy day and it is very easy to get caught up in the moment and "forget gloves" or forget to put the bed down. It was a compounding of issues but I think besides those issues I made many effective nursing decisions to make up for it. I made it this far in the program with out making any mistakes and to fail in one semester just really depresses me and I am kicking myself and wishing I slowed down and thought of what I was doing before leaving the room.
Any care while in the hospital is nursing care, no matter if your dealing with physicians or nursing students. Nurses are nurses if they are teachers, Diabetes educators, IV nurses, ICU nurses and Rehab nurses. Treatment of anybody no matter the situation should at least be humane and fair, and should be the way you yourself would want to be treated. I realize that maybe this isn't the profession for me if I would be surrounded by people who do otherwise.
I really don't know what to do. I've ate, drank, and breathed nursing for the past 3 years and it is in everything I do. It would be hard to imagine myself as anything different. I've worked in my hospital for 6 years, and it is a family to me. I am just heartbroken.
Nursing school is for learning and making mistakes, but I think we also assume that the mistakes that happen should never be life-threatening ones nor so fundamental that it's ridiculous.
Of course...ha... that sounds like you can't make mistakes at all
Your mistakes were things you should have already known before you hit the floor: why would you leave a pt bed jacked up like that or talk about a pt's private information?
You have already been in school for 3 years!
So basic is this stuff, in fact, that making the error just gives the impression you aren't thinking or don't care.
That is never good.
I'm not being mean. It's a fact.
You can go to the BON, but for what? They're not going to do a thing for you. You made some errors in judgment that could have caused harm or legal issues to result.
When you work retail and break a jar of pickles... that's a mistake.
When you work in the hospital, leave the bed up, the pt falls out and cracks their head open and busts a hip... well, that may have been a mistake too, but the result is far far worse.
I know you're upset.
I know exactly how it feels...
But I think you need to take more responsibility for your mistakes.
We do make mistakes as nurses. But we can't just cancel them out by doing other things well. Errors can and do kill people, and the damage sometimes can't be undone.
I doubt if the parents of this baby would offer a chance to let the nurse make up her error. She had a 27 year history of being a great nurse, and with one error she lost it all. A baby was killed and she lost her life.
Many people on this thread have given great advice. As adults, we alone are responsible for our own choices and errors, not our instructor, our boss, our coworkers, or the bogeyman. Of course, there can be systems errors as well, but I've heard nothing to indicate that this occurred here. You can either take full responsibility for your errors and improve to pursue your dream, or continue to place blame elsewhere, learn nothing, not improve, and wonder why everyone is "mean."
I've seen excellent nurses make mistakes. Any nurse in practice has made a mistake. But we accept it as OUR mistake and change, or we are NOT safe.
Great. Let's label the OP (who is a self stated third year college student who made A's and B's) with a questionable psychiatric condition so she can have an excuse for making these mistakes and never have to take responsibilty for them. Then, let's just let a potentially unsafe student back into nursing school because she has a "medical condition."
Prior experience in healthcare is an asset but it can also be a burden. As a LNA, you have a level of experience and confidence in a hospital setting that your nursing school peers did not. Nursing students are usually petrified and hyperanalyze every step of every procedure. They're generally slow and greatly desire approval and supervision in the beginning. You are probably past that stage because of your LNA experience.
However, consider how your time as a LNA has colored your perception on this matter. Consider that your work experience has led you to act in manner that is unlike what your clinical instructors expected of nursing students. Try to gauge your actions more in the light of the nursing school rules and regulations you know are regularly bent and broken in real life. The coworkers who have modeled poor conduct have done you a disservice, and this is high time to accept responsibility, reset and restructure your clinical performance. Have faith that nursing professors have reasons for their standards, even if those standards seem unreasonable in relation to what you've seen in the "real world."
In addition, you wrote that you have seen people do XYZ and have not gotten fired. I am sure this left you asking, "Where's the justice?" I would too. But this is no good for your emotional health, in my opinion. You can't make others change their ways without bringing a mess upon yourself. Getting them (whoever they are) written up, fined or investigated probably won't change your circumstances. The only thing you have genuine influence over is yourself.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you find harmony and happiness again. :)
OP, yesterday on my unit a patient who was NPO for a sedated MRI somehow got a small drink of orange juice. This might seem like a fundamental mistake that doesn't have the potential to harm the patient. So maybe no one admits this to the nurse. Then the child goes to MRI, is sedated, vomits, and aspirates the orange juice. Now he has aspiration pneumonia, ARDS and has to be intubated all because someone never admitted a simple, innocent mistake.
Fortunately, this was brought up. Responsibility was taken. The MRI was postponed for another few hours, and everything went fine. Just an example of how a 'fundmental mistake' can be have a serious consequence if hidden and no consequences if admitted.
You seem to think that since your mistakes were simple 'fundamental' and anyone could make them, that you should be given a pass. Instead of realizing that in a year, you would be a licensed nurse, caring for people without your clinical instructor to notice your 'fundamental mistakes.' YOU would have to be the nurse who knows how to safely care for these patients. YOUR job, license and career would be on the line if something bad were to happen as a result of your negligence. If you made four caught mistakes (and I'm guessing there were several other mistakes over the years that were uncaught) in one semester, it certainly doesn't sound like you're ready for that responsibility.
Here are some examples of how your 'fundamental mistakes' could have turned very serious:
1. Leaving colace (or any med) at the bedside- a. You stated the patient is confused. Patient tries to take the med while you are gone. Patient chokes on or aspirates the med while unattended. b. Child who is visiting the patient swollows the med. Chokes, over doses, or has a serious drug reaction. c. You come back and the med is gone. Patient states she through it away. Patient actually took the med and is then double-dosed or is diverting it.
2. Violating HIPAA- without going into detail- patient doesn't want to the 'friend' to know a certain part of his medical history. You'd be amazed what people hide from their friends and family for years. Patient sues you and the hospital.
3. Leaving the bed up- a. Patient tries to get our of bed. Falls, hits head, brain bleed and permanently comatose or dies. You've obviously never witnessed how quickly a sick elderly person can move. b. Patient tries to get out of bed, gets leg caught in the side rail. Breaks leg. Never walks again.
What you need to realize is that these aren't fundamental mistakes. These are serious safety errors that could result is permament patient harm. You can either accept responsibility, come up with an action plan for improvement, and reapply to nursing school or you can continue to think they are fundamental mistakes and you are being unfairly punished.
My fourth grade math teacher once told us "When you point the finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you."
I take full responsibility for everything that has happened. I'm an awful student nurse for putting my patients lives in jeopardy. And I understand that the consequences were to leave nursing school. It is very serious and real and they happened and right now I'm paying the price, literally. I've learned so much in these past years and I've worked so hard.
My instructor told me she thought that I had it in me but that I needed time to grow. I've talked to my old instructors that told me not to give up, and that they really believe that I am meant to be a nurse. I understand and appreciate all of your comments because this is probably the hardest point in my life and no matter how much I tell myself it'll be okay, it is nice to get input from other people who may understand what I am going through.
I do not have diagnosed ADD haha. But who knows we are all a little crazy in our own way
I'll get through this. It's another bump in the road and who knows, it may have been for the best and lead me on to something bigger and better. Everything happens for a reason.
Great. Let's label the OP (who is a self stated third year college student who made A's and B's) with a questionable psychiatric condition so she can have an excuse for making these mistakes and never have to take responsibilty for them. Then, let's just let a potentially unsafe student back into nursing school because she has a "medical condition."
Ridiculous.
Ah, a bit presumtious, Ashley! I think that you and I can agree that leaving a bed in high position is extremely unacceptable, ESPECIALLY from a LNA/nursing student. My suggestion was in light of that. Something is going on here, I made a suggestion of one possibility. A visit for assessment wouldn't hurt. If it comes up as a poss. then counseling and teaching of ways to accomadate would be in order....
To be honest the majority of the mistakes the OP made are things that s/he should have known from their experience LNA (before they even went into nursing school).
HIPAA and not leaving a bed in the high position are nursing assistant "fundamentals".
AOx1
961 Posts
Theantichick, you've summed it up beautifully, and show a true understanding of what it means to learn & grow from experiences. I can see your insight & maturity taking you great places!