Legal question about my mistake...

Blackcat99 · Apr 10, 2005

You don't need to quit nursing. We all make mistakes. Forgive yourself and move on. :)

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Apr 10, 2005

I'm seriously considering quitting nursing because I don't want make a another mistake. I'm scared... Any advice on this situation.

My advice would be to keep working. Because of your mistake, I'd bet my last dollar that you're a more careful nurse now.

Don't let fear run your work life. Accept the fact that you're human. We all make mistakes. It appears that your patient will be ok. As Blackcat says, you need to forgive yourself and move on.

Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to buy malpractice insurance. Because it doesn't have to be you in particular who messes up--it could be anyone on that case from Day One to Discharge. And if a patient did decide to sue, every single caregiver who touched that patient would be called in to give a deposition, even if it was someone in a different department who messed up. With insurance, you'll be eligible to have your own legal representation, and sometimes that makes all the difference.

Nrs_angie, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2005

My advice would be to keep working. Because of your mistake, I'd bet my last dollar that you're a more careful nurse now.
Don't let fear run your work life. Accept the fact that you're human. We all make mistakes. It appears that your patient will be ok. As Blackcat says, you need to forgive yourself and move on.
Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to buy malpractice insurance. Because it doesn't have to be you in particular who messes up--it could be anyone on that case from Day One to Discharge. And if a patient did decide to sue, every single caregiver who touched that patient would be called in to give a deposition, even if it was someone in a different department who messed up. With insurance, you'll be eligible to have your own legal representation, and sometimes that makes all the difference.

Angie,

Hello. I just wanted to say that was very good advice you gave to that person. I have not had any major screw ups but I had wondered what I would do if something major happened. Thanks for your good input. I also saw another post you made on the student nurse area and I agreed with that also. Any help you can send me would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

angie

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Apr 10, 2005

I know you are worried and upset, but let me assure you, we have all made mistakes. From these mistakes we have become better nurses. I do not think the patient came to any lasting harm. Please, you have admitted your mistake, attempted to do all in your power to make sure the patient was o.k.,

and now you need to go back to work. Just take that extra minute to recheck the meds and IV's.

It is a good idea to have your own malpractice insurance. Good luck and let us know how you are a few weeks from now.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2005

I agree, even seasoned experience nurses have errors like that. It twists you in knots for a while, but you have to get past it and move on. It's hard sometimes, especially if the patient has had a severe reaction, but if everyone quit because they had an error, there would be NO nurses left. Keep going forward and learn from your mistake.

Nesher, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2005

The first was when I was several months into a new job/state. It was nights of course I was in charge - I with several months experience total. At the end of report at 11:30 I was called into a patients room. She was in the bathroom, which looked like a blood bomb had gone off. Blood everywhere. I don't know how she did that - the blood was on all 4 walls - waist high. She was covered - the bedroom and bed looked a massacre had taken place. She had had a vag bleed - cervical Ca. At any rate, stat hct, etc etc, endless cleanup, I was to say the least a tad frazzled when I finally had her settled. My next patient called for me and asked for benadryl. She was a sickle cell patient - frequent flyer and the narcs made her itchy. I grabbed the med and gave it to her. This before the days of PYXIS and all the meds were jumbled together in a bin - all their prns etc. As I walking out the door to get something else for her, she sat straight up and started to seize (grand mal) as well as projectile vomit - all the way across the room.

What had I given her? I can tell you there is a difficult to breath feeling as well as that gnawing knowledge that I must have given her something bad. I actually went back into the med room and dug through the garbage - I was sure I hadn't!

Clearly I had. It turned out I had given her compazine instead of benadryl - the containers were the same size and the print on each of them was in black - thus my mistake - I had in my frenzied state from the other patient and her bleed out had not looked closely. Now granted it should not have been in her bin since she had an allergy to it, but it doesn't excuse my not checking closely. She ended up being fine - the hospital paid for her admission and I was forevermore uncomfortable around her. This wasn't my last med error that year though.

The second biggie I did was with a 19 year old with neurofibromatosis (spelling) which had become cancerous - She had a huge inoperable abd tumor that made her look 9 months preg. This tumor had also wrapped around her ureters and among the many problems she had was enormous pain. She had a forest of IV pumps in her room on both sides of the bed. Several pumps were hooked to the caths keeping her ureters infused with medication - I don't recall the purpose) - she also had antibiotics, IVF, 2 PCA's one with MS one with versed and another pump for her epidural gtt. This was before the days of locked epidural specific pumps. She had come racing back from a procedure and the epidural bag was empty - so I changed it quickly and got her back into bed - an arduous process. Her pain kept increasing all evening.

It wasn't until the next day when I go to work that I was told what I had done...I had hung Vanco instead of whatever it was she had for her epidural - talk about your heart sinking to the floor. It turns out a person can get Vanco into the epidural space, and because the gtt was at a slow rate she didn't exceed the amount allowed. I was her primary nurse so I continued to care for her until her death. I felt pretty bad about contributing to her pain though...

Those two mistakes occurred when I was a newbie and I recognize their value in teaching me to slow down - take the time to look at what you are giving and to remember you are a human and to be thankful when your screwups don't permanently harm someone.

Town & Country · Apr 11, 2005

I stopped the infusion right away and apologized to the family.

I would not inform the family of a "harmless" med error. In today's sue-happy world, that's all the ammo they need.

It's one thing to take responsibility.

It's another to crucify oneself and invite a lawsuit and being fired.

We all make mistakes....they teach us to be more careful.

The patient wasn't harmed; no reason to upset the family.

JMHO.

allnurses Guide · Apr 11, 2005

I would not inform the family of a "harmless" med error. In today's sue-happy world, that's all the ammo they need.
It's one thing to take responsibility.
It's another to crucify oneself and invite a lawsuit and being fired.
We all make mistakes....they teach us to be more careful.
The patient wasn't harmed; no reason to upset the family.
JMHO.

I know we are encouraged to keep errors like this "in the facility" but it still feels unethical to me. Like I'm trying to get away with something.

Med errors are so scary - and we've all done it.

steph

Nesher, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2005

An incident report would be in order in my hospital.

LearningRN · Apr 11, 2005

I had a patient who was receiving aminophylline 10ml/hr on his right IV site and zithromax on his left IV site. I accidentally gave the zithromax at a rate of 250ml/hr out of a volume of 250. So I actually ran the zithromax for an hour instead of running it for two hours. The patient complained of nausea, dizziness, and pain at the IV site, with numbness to his hand, and lips. Patient denies any vomitting. This wasn't his first time to receive zithromax IV. I'm very scared and worried that I might get sued. I stopped the infusion right away and apologized to the family. I called the doctor and informed him of the situation. The patient's vitals has been running from 98/50 to 140/80. I monitored it q5minutes x 30 mins. I stayed over my shift to watch over this patient. He's been stable throughout. His vitals have stayed stable also. I was off the next day and I called to work and spoke to my charge nurse. My charge nurse said that he was ok. I'm sorry for what I've done and I feel so bad. I'm a new graduate and have only been working as a nurse for about 4 months. I'm seriously considering quitting nursing because I don't want make a another mistake. I'm scared... Any advice on this situation. Thanks for all the help.

So, should I worry about a lawsuit? How does that work? Thanks again everyone.

Nrs_angie, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2005

But I read all the posts talking about med errors ect.

earlier this year at the beginning of the new semester at school I was unfamiliar with what time we as students give meds...

I know we were told that we must report off by 1350 so we have our post conference at 1400.

I didn't realize that we give the 1400 meds so i never marked it off on my sheet. It was an IV antibiotic that was for 1400 and I almost never hung it except the RN team leader asked me if I was going to. I said I didnt know I was supposed to but I dont mind. My instructor was furious with me. I mean breathing fire! :angryfire

Looking back... If we use report off forms and sign our name and time we are off so that it covers our back... I guess I dont understand why we are 'supposed' to report off no later than 1350 but yet we are still responsible for meds up to 1500.

Does anybody have any insight on this? Anybody ever forget to give a med at the end of their shift? What would have happened if it never got hung? Would someone have gotten on the next shift coming in? Or shouldn't our instructor make sure all meds were given before we go to post-conference?

I know it was a bad thing... but im just misunderstanding. Has anybody ever had the same experience? what happened to you or to the patient?