Learn from mistakes

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There is an awesome thread going on in the "First Year in Nursing" board about mistakes made or little gems of info that new nurses (or any nurse) could learn from.

So I thought...since I am a new nurse, and need all the little gems of knowledge I can get :lol2:...I'd post the topic here also, where nurses with more experience may see it and share their wisdom.

So please, share your thoughts, mistakes and what you've learned from them, and gems of knowledge!!

Thanks!

-Lisa

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Gem #1: you WILL make a mistake.

Gem #2: It is possible to move on from that mistake.

Gem #3: The mistake does not make you a horrible nurse.

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:monkeydance:I like this thread, keep 'em coming!

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Specializes in Telemetry.

There is never a stupid question among nurses...Never be afraid to double check yourself (has saved me a couple of times so far). And beware of over-confidence...no one can know it all in this field.

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Ok.....Here we go. In my first clinical rotation I was passing meds to my patient. I had taken my MAR to the pyxis and retrieved the meds that I needed from there, and then I returned to my patient's nurse server to find the aspirin that she was prescribed. While reading through my MAR, I found the order for her qd aspirin and found the aspirin bottle in her nurse sever and took out 1 tablet. Proud of my self I walked in to my patients room to check her armband and administer my meds.

The next day I had the same pt. and followed the same routine while preparing her morning meds, only this time when I pulled the aspirin out of the patients nurse server I realized that there were two bottles of aspirin.....one was 325mg/tab, the other was 81mg/tab......fearful, I knew that she was to have 81mg qd.....but I quickly realized that the day before, I had inadvertantly given her a 325mg tablet. :trout:

Needless to say I always, always, always quadruple check the dosage of the meds that I am giving now. I had thought that I was good at triple checking my meds......but I have learned not to take drugs such as aspirin for granted.....although they may not be as dagerous as some, I would hate to make another mistake.

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The first year of nursing is always difficult. You feel clumsy and stupid. This is normal !!!If you are unsure of something , either look it up or ask for help. Admitting you don't know something doesn't mean you ar stupid. Mistakes do get made. Even after 25 yrs of nursing I still make mistakes but you learn from them.You are always going to run into people who think they are better than you. Remember to treat everyone the way you would want to be treated( especially the CNA's. They can be your best friend!!) Good Luck

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I,m going to admit my mistake before i got my cna pull which i know i will never get it back. my big mistake was not going by the care plan. instead i did what i want. i miss doing nursing i do anything to come back.

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I,m going to admit my mistake before i got my cna pull which i know i will never get it back. my big mistake was not going by the care plan. instead i did what i want. i miss doing nursing i do anything to come back.

Oh, that's a biggie. You need to follow orders the way they're written, be it a physician's order or the nursing care plan. If you disagree with it you can question it, but you can't just go do what you want.

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1. As someone mentioned, by biggie is don't be afraid to ask, even if you think someone will think you are dumb. If in doubt, please ask.

2. If you feel an order is not right, then question it too. Docs are only human too.

3. Go with your gut feeling. It is almost never wrong.

4. Don't try to do several things at once when you are passing meds. This will eventually cause a med error.

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Gem #1: you WILL make a mistake.

Gem #2: It is possible to move on from that mistake.

Gem #3: The mistake does not make you a horrible nurse.

Good advice.

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Specializes in CMSRN.

I am currently in orientation and I am still asking questions that you would have learned the first few weeks of nursing school. Questions I think are dumb but no one has given me a hard time.

Sounds stupid but I have even run into tenured nurses who stop and ask just to clarify. Some days everything can seemed mixed up no matter how many times you have done it before.

GEM#1 for me: Always ask and get a second brain involved when there is even a twinge of doubt.

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I don't have any pearls of wisdom, I don't think. I've been an RN for about a year.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are nurses who may look at you like you are a moron for asking, but it is better to ask. The first year is a challenge. You learn so many more things than you could have dreamed of when you are in school. Use your resources. Our pharmacists are awesome when you've got a question about compatabilities, and trust me...you would way rather err on the side of caution.

You aren't going to know all the answers, and you should not be expected to know all the answers.

Know where to go to FIND the answers.

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