Reprimanded for reporting medication errors and so much more

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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I'm currently a nursing student and while at a clinical facility I noticed that another student failed to give insulin to a patient. So before the end of shift I went over the MAR to make sure that everyone had documented and to do a narcotic count before leaving. I brought up the medication error to the instructor and the instructor informed me that the issue would be taken care of. The instructor sends out the students to the med cart to rectify the issues. One of the student, who missed the insulin, begins to shift the blame on me and then proceeded to argue with the RN who was in charge of the cart.

The RN told the student that when she was instructed to give the insulin, why did she withhold it? The student begins to give her reasonings to why she did not give the insulin and in the end, even after taking another glucose reading, she needed to give the insulin because the pt was on a sliding scale and needed the insulin even with the new reading.

Anyhow, there are many incidents that have happened while I was at this facility and each and every time I had brought it up to the instructor, I was told that it would be taken care of.

Today, I just found out that some instructors at this institution are saying I'm the cause of problems at the clinical sites and in a classroom setting.

The same student who made the med error confronted me in front of the class making remarks like "how did you pass term 2, if you don't know how to assess the abdomen". She over heard another student and I discuss about how to differentiate between high pitched and wave like sounds from the abdomen. I never once stated I knew everything about nursing. This is why I'm enrolled in a program and attending daily because I never had previous medical exposure and if I claimed to know it all, I wouldn't be in any program.

After this incident took place, I never felt the need to run and tell to the directors or instructors about the cattiness that took place in the classroom. She said whatever she wanted to say, and I also did the same.

Now, it's apparent that instructors are starting not to like me because of my ethics and willingness to comply to rules and regulations enforced by the board. They are trying to find any flaws that I might make to kick me out of the program.

I posted a status on my FB about the insulin incident. Warning my fellow nursing friends to not make the same mistake and I was brought in by the clinical instructor and was told that my FB status was "unprofessional". Yet, students who came to clinical hungover, late almost every other day and students who believed that taking multiple smoke break is important versus taking care of the patients while on duty. I just have a whole list of "unprofessional" things that were done by the other nursing students. I'm upset that these adult professionals who are instructors are going around my back talking about me in unprofessional ways without once contacting me directly to inquire about the hearsay that has been going on.

I no longer feel safe to step a foot onto the campus and I wake up not wanting to go to class to finish my program. I'm harboring these feelings and thoughts that I haven't been able to tell any instructors or individuals who run this program in fear of being retaliated against.

I need to know what should I do?

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
This is taken from my FB:

"Dear Fellow Nursing Students,

Please, please know how insulin works!! Fellow students are there to help you and save your ass. If you don't want your ass saved, please make it clear!

Also, NEVER EVER argue or talk back to a RN OR a LVN who is EMPLOYED!! She/He is LICENSED and we are NOT!!! Nod your head and apologize for your MED ERROR!!!"

Nursing isn't what it is anymore. Instead of ensuring patient safety, I have to weigh if I want to voice my concern with the possibility of getting in trouble for doing the right thing or just pretend like I never knew nothing about anything.

But aren't you doing the same thing? Thinking you know more than everyone else? That you are superior somehow and take it upon yourself to do the right thing because you are the only one who does the right thing?

Nursing is nursing....you can't go around editing everyone elses behavior as inadequate. There are rules....chain of command to follow. Doing the right thing has it's own costs. You need to accept that. You can't go into a china shop and shove over all the shelves...it makes people angry.

YOu used social media to call out your fellow students. NO bueno.

How would you feel if they posted...

Officially sick of NURSING STUDENTS who think they know everything, if you did or think you do, you wouldn't be a student would you? Nursing students do NOT know everything! It is NOT YOUR JOB to have your nose in EVERYONE'S business!!! That is the teacher job!!! SHE HAS A LICENSE AND YOU DO NOT!!! What makes you think you KNOW BETTER?? You run around checking everyone elses work when that is the instructors job!! She/He is LICENSED and we are NOT!!! Nod your head and apologize for you usurping her authority!!

Not very professional is it?

It is not WHAT you are doing but HOW you are doing it.

Think about how to better handle this situation.

Specializes in Hospice.

OP, I hope we haven't scared you off of this forum. Your last sentence was "I need to know what should I do". We are only trying to help you. I know it seems we all ganged up on you, but believe me these are not vicious, vindictive, hateful nurses. They are here to mentor, teach, correct, and assist you along your career. They will, however, let you know if you are wrong.

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as you learn from them and never make them again.

please note, OP has stated that the whole group was in trouble if there were errors made. Therefore, they (the OP) was trying to prevent that. Is this not being a team player?

Specializes in NICU.

I was never in trouble in clinicals for something a fellow classmate did wrong. My grade and record reflected my own actions and no-one elses. When a mistake was made, and they were rare, the instructor would talk to us about it and make it a learning opportunity. No-one else was chastised and no-one else's grade was affected by the mistake unless they were directly involved with the error.

So, it doesn't make sense to me that the OP feels her entire clinical group "gets in trouble" for the mistake of one person. And as far as three student's making med errors--where was the instructor?? We were never allowed to pass meds unless the clinical instructor was present with us while we did it.

Has nursing school changed this much??

Specializes in Trauma, Orthopedics.

If you, as a fellow student and NOT my instructor, put me on blast and acted that high and mighty, I'd have a problem with you too. Who are you to be posting facebook statuses like that? That is definitely how you make enemies. You're not their instructor, so it's not your job to tell them how to behave or what to do. You're causing problems and overstepping your boundaries....let it go.

I'm currently a nursing student and while at a clinical facility I noticed that another student failed to give insulin to a patient. So before the end of shift I went over the MAR to make sure that everyone had documented and to do a narcotic count before leaving. I brought up the medication error to the instructor and the instructor informed me that the issue would be taken care of. The instructor sends out the students to the med cart to rectify the issues. One of the student, who missed the insulin, begins to shift the blame on me and then proceeded to argue with the RN who was in charge of the cart.

The RN told the student that when she was instructed to give the insulin, why did she withhold it? The student begins to give her reasonings to why she did not give the insulin and in the end, even after taking another glucose reading, she needed to give the insulin because the pt was on a sliding scale and needed the insulin even with the new reading.

Anyhow, there are many incidents that have happened while I was at this facility and each and every time I had brought it up to the instructor, I was told that it would be taken care of.

Today, I just found out that some instructors at this institution are saying I'm the cause of problems at the clinical sites and in a classroom setting.

The same student who made the med error confronted me in front of the class making remarks like "how did you pass term 2, if you don't know how to assess the abdomen". She over heard another student and I discuss about how to differentiate between high pitched and wave like sounds from the abdomen. I never once stated I knew everything about nursing. This is why I'm enrolled in a program and attending daily because I never had previous medical exposure and if I claimed to know it all, I wouldn't be in any program.

After this incident took place, I never felt the need to run and tell to the directors or instructors about the cattiness that took place in the classroom. She said whatever she wanted to say, and I also did the same.

Now, it's apparent that instructors are starting not to like me because of my ethics and willingness to comply to rules and regulations enforced by the board. They are trying to find any flaws that I might make to kick me out of the program.

I posted a status on my FB about the insulin incident. Warning my fellow nursing friends to not make the same mistake and I was brought in by the clinical instructor and was told that my FB status was "unprofessional". Yet, students who came to clinical hungover, late almost every other day and students who believed that taking multiple smoke break is important versus taking care of the patients while on duty. I just have a whole list of "unprofessional" things that were done by the other nursing students. I'm upset that these adult professionals who are instructors are going around my back talking about me in unprofessional ways without once contacting me directly to inquire about the hearsay that has been going on.

I no longer feel safe to step a foot onto the campus and I wake up not wanting to go to class to finish my program. I'm harboring these feelings and thoughts that I haven't been able to tell any instructors or individuals who run this program in fear of being retaliated against.

I need to know what should I do?

Consider yourself lucky to still be in the program! I'm in my 20's and still cannot for the life of me understand why would someone discuss/criticize their job/clinical on social media!

Specializes in LTC/SNF.

As soon as I read OP's post I went and popped some popcorn.

Thread delivered. :yes:

Esme's comments were spot-on per usual, really all of them were.

Pre-nursing and nursing students would be wise to heed the advice given in in this thread.

Specializes in kids.

Esme nailed it as usual!

I would delete the post (ok I never would have posted that!) keep school/work off your FB and root for your favorite food or home team! Go REDSOX!!!

Anyhooo....sounds like a rough time, regroup and gather yourself up and move forward. The only one you have any control over is YOU!. If you sopend as much effort in worrying about your own work, you will be ok.

Not your place to review the MAR for anyones elses issues. That is for your instructor to do. If you personally witness an error, report it. That is the right and ethical and legal thing to.

Know your stuff inside an out and be good and kind to your patients.

Be your best self, and that does not include monitoring anyones work but your own.

Good Luck!

Keep a low profile. Mind your own business. Just make sure you do things right and do not worry about anybody else. Nursing school survival 101 ;)

And nothing about school on FB!

Ditto this. And remember this for the workplace because the stakes at that time will be your livelihood.

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Right or wrong, how you were raised, justified or not really does not factor into this. The message for you is pretty clear. Mind your own business and stay off FB if your peers have access. It really is that simple.

It is great that you want to fight the battles, but that needs to be done after you become a nurse. If you continue the way you are you will never get the chance to become a nurse.

Please do not waste your energy coming back with a long post justifying your actions. It simply does not matter when you teetering on whether or not you will be allowed to remain in nsg. school. You requested advice and it has been given generously. Time to shut the mouth and ensure your own survival.........

Specializes in ER.

During school, sometimes other students or even teachers would do things I didn't agree with. We don't live in a perfect world. People are flawed. You will work with doctors, patients, parents, nurses, CNAs, CEOs , family members that break rules, do things that will make you mad, and may not always be in the patients best interest. What's even worse is when there are rules you don't agree with that you need to follow. You need to pick the battles that matter. Lead by example (take excellent care of your own patients). You need to see the good in other people and encourage those traits. If you are more knowledgeable or capable than your peers, use your strengths to guide and assist them. Don't badger them with holier-than-thou mumbo jumbo. Try to be the difference you want to see in the world, but don't expect others to be that. You will probably be disappointed - or they may have a different idea of what kind of world they want to live in. :-) That's my dismal view on things anyways LOL. One of my favorite sayings is "the average IQ is 100"... it's my mantra for when people do things I don't agree with.

"Nursing isn't what it is anymore. Instead of ensuring patient safety, I have to weigh if I want to voice my concern with the possibility of getting in trouble for doing the right thing or just pretend like I never knew nothing about anything." I thought this was a reoccurring theme across all aspects of life...? Will be especially prevalent in nursing... sounds like nursing is what it has always been LOL. Every time I bring a concern up, I have to weigh the possible outcomes of my decision to do so. For instance, a student cheated by passing a note with answers on it around a table in a chem exam. I shook my head 'no', whispered "no thank you", and rejected the sheet. I got a better score than them anyways, LOL, but I knew reporting it was going to cause a big stink and I didn't want the added stress. However, when a student showed up drunk to clinicals, I told them "hey, you look sick. You can't take care of patients like this, it ain't safe. You need to go home." They didn't want to. I reported that immediately to my professor and they were removed. A few students got mad at me (interestingly enough, not the drunk one), but most understood. It would have endangered patient lives and was unacceptable. I also gave them an out first which still kept us on amicable terms while protecting the patient. I will take social wrath to keep people safe. But social wrath and emotional stress to report someone that cheats on the test on what aldehyde vs alcohol chemical arrangements that they're not going to use ten minutes later.... nooooot worth it! Pick your battles.

Also, don't post anything school or work related on facebook. Realize everything on facebook can and likely will be viewed by school, employers, friends, and enemies. Don't generalize and attack all the students, either. It's annoying when you're the good student in class and the teacher says "ALL YOU GUYS AREN'T DOING YOUR HOMEWORK!" and you're like... "uuuh, I turned all my homework in early... why is she yelling at me?!" It's happened to you, don't return the favor. It's not you versus the entire school. Don't make it that. And making sweeping generalizations about all nurses ? All the administration is against you? Wow - calm down LOL.

As someone else mentioned, be wary of patient privacy violations! You can't access pt info that's not relevant to your care.

You can't protect every patient from every med error or mishap in the hospital. You're going to have to learn to trust people and to encourage them, not to police them. advocate for everyone(students, teachers, patients, clinical sites) while trying to keep everyone safe. Lots of gray area in the process... but it's a skill you're going to have to work on. And try to have a sense of humor about things. Maybe use therapeutic communication techniques not just on patients, but on your classmates! practice disarming and nice language!

Hope I was like... helpful or something :-D

Good luck and take care. Nursing school was a lot harder socially and emotionally than academically in my opinion. Believe it will end one day - it will. You can make it to the finish line - I promise it's there! Learn from this frustrating experience.

Specializes in LTC & Private Duty Pediatrics.

Hey everyone:

Why the hell would you ever post anything about nursing school on FaceBook? Who made you the nursing school instructor? What are you, the teacher's pet?

If you were in my clinical group, I'd personally print out your FB page ... inform my classmates (and you), and then go straight to the Dean. Do not pass go ... do not collect $200. You could be dismissed from the program for slander, HIPPA, and just plain being a pain in the rear-end (put nicely). In addition, you may subject yourself to legal action on the part of those who you intended to hurt.

Now, if you were to spot a mistake, naturally I would (in the role of a fellow nursing student making a potential error) would like to know about it. If you give me a heads up, and then shut up. Fine!!! That's what you are supposed to do. We cover each other's butts.

Just my two cents.

SirJohnny.

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