made a med error

[jelorde37]

i mad a med error last night. i gave a patient protonix who wasnt supposed to recieve it:banghead: i told my charged nurses and she just told me not to worry about it... i was gonna write myself up but she just said to forget it and that the patient needed it due to a history of ulcers/gerd... man i feel stupid... the patient wasnt harmed in any way, but i feel confused, depressed, and incompetent. i told the other RNs and they just laughed:chuckle i really learned my lesson and im glad that the medication was a protonix and not a narcotic or insulin. sorry guys, just had to vent.

:zzzzz

[drmorton2b]

Its good to realize this is an error. That way you can think, why did this happen? What am I doing differently. Bottom line Protonix isn't going to kill the guy if he misses a dose. We're not talking an IV ACLS drug here.

[peridotgirl]

this is probabaly nothing close to a med error, but at my clinical rotation, as an LPN student, I was giving my pt insulin. so everything went fine and as smooth as could be. pt tolerated it well. I did everything I was suppose to do, except DOCUMENT the procedure!! yikes! talk about feeling horrible. Needless to say, I arrived home and it was then that I had realized that I forgot to docoument... and you guys know the rules " if it wasn't charted, it isn't done." so the next day, I told my instructor and she told me to "keep it on the down low." I guess she was shocked as well, considering I do very well in my LPN class. This was an experience I'll never forget. it just goes to show that at the end of the day, we are all human and we do makes mistakes. nobody is perfect.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

anyways, my patient is okay. we ended up getting him on prilosec cause of his history of ulcers and he complains of GERD. i know its not protonix but i guess prilosec is just as good and way cheaper. thanks for the support guys. for awhile i was feeling incompetent but im taking this as learning experience and im just glad that the patient is okay.

again, thanks for the support.

i'm glad it turned out okay for you... yipeeeee:yeah:

[jelorde37]

hahaha im glad it turned out okay for me too. its just the terror of actually making a mistake. i know humans arent perfect but we try to be specially when we are dealing with other peoples lives.

anyways, pt ended up getting discharged this morning with an order of prilosec! lesson of the day- always double checkx3. thanks guys.

jon lvn

[niasmama]

I had been out of nursing school several months and was working in a hospital,the RN gave me the order to give a patient a B12 shot,when i went to the room to give it,i made my first mistake by not checking the wrist band,i called the pt the name on the order and she answered me,not knowing the pt was confused as i had not seen very many confused pt,i gave the shot and went to chart it,then i relized what i had done,i informed the RN who acted like the lady was going to die,and informed me i would have to call the dr and let him know what i had done,this dr was a hard man to get along with ,he liked to belittle nurses all he could,and of course i was scared to talk to him,he must have been having a real good day that day,after i explained to him what i had done,he stated don't worry about it it will probably do her some good and thanked me for calling him,the rn asked me what he said and i told her she could hardly believe it ,that dr was friendly to me from then on

[DebanamRN, MSN, RN]

As long as you own your mistakes, there usually isn't a problem. Everyone makes mistakes. Just being honest is the best way to go. I gave a patient long-acting insulin without checking her blood sugar. The RN handed me the med list and asked me to give all the meds indicated. I stupidly assumed that she did the blood glucose test. She didn't, but the oncoming nurse said she would do it and not to worry about it. Nothing else was ever said. I did give the pt a sandwich, however, and luckily her blood glucose was really high earlier. I felt so bad but learned that I have to be really careful to double check everything.

The fact that you care makes you a better nurse. Good luck! You'll do great.

[lifechange 10]

This is not actually a med error, one of my co workers was suspended recently for signing off treatments before they were actually done. No harm came to the patients, all treatments got done before the end of shift. This has many of the rest of us scared that it could have been us.

[Lalovelyone]

Yeah, don't worry about it. But, do report yourself. Especially since you told you're supervisor. It's not that big of a deal, but unfortunatly in nursing there is such a thing as CYA- cover you're ass. Report you'reself before someone else does. Everyone makes mistakes. I know I made my share. Let this me a leson to you, so that you don't make bigger ones. Don't let this slide, or you will let other possibly worse things slide that can come back and bite you in the ass!

Take care!