Made a mistake. Has this happened to other people?

[MsNurse1997]

I made my first semi-big mistake in home health yesterday and didn’t realize it till today. I saw another case managers patient who has a foley that is irrigated each week with a vinegar acetic solution. I was looking to see when her next cath change was due and I counted it out to be next week. Well today I realized I miss counted and it should have actually been changed yesterday. I’m planning on calling the doc in the morning when the office opens and letting them know about it. This patient has had a foley for years and has a chronic UTI so I’m not too overly concerned about that part but I just feel bad cause I missed something that obvious. Has something similar ever happened to you? I know my preceptor said when she was new she missed orders for lab work all the time and she would have to do them the next visit or go back and do it. 

[Texas_RN, ADN]

Yes I’ve made mistakes like that as well. Usually the doctor is understanding and will give you an order to change it at the next scheduled visit or following week (whichever comes first). I would worry too much about it. 

[bryn]

as long as mistakes are acknowledged, addressed, and patient is stable. That's all the matters. Mistakes happen all the time in any profession.

[Simba&NalasMom, LPN]

Happens all the time. The important thing is that you speak up now and get it taken care of at your next visit instead of trying to cover it up which many new nurses are tempted to do.

 

You will be fine. And if you work for the type of agency who's going to come down heavy on you for that type of oversight then it's not an agency worth working for.

 

?

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Honestly, this is easy to correct.If you have authorized PRN visits you can just send a nurse out to change it or change it with next nursing visit. I have missed a few labs over the years usually because the order was not clear. They wrote the order to  draw labs with each infusion, not thinking he had 2 infusions of different medications on different days. In another, the order to draw lab before every infusion got changed to every other. Recently,they failed to put the lab order in the nursing tasks section but I was scrolling through the orders and caught the mistake and drew the lab. I don't ever get too stressed about it because I just correct it, learn my lesson and move on.