Made a mistake!

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

So... I am on orientation in an L&D unit, where I felt so sure (for a long time) that I wanted to be. I have a pretty solid nursing background (8 years, some ICU) and consider myself to be fairly smart, conscientious, and careful. The problem is that I made a mistake the other day on the job and it is absolutely killing me. I don't want to give specifics, because I can't bear the comments that may come back telling me how stupid/dangerous/wrong it was to do that. I KNOW. I cannot figure out for the life of me why I made the mistake, why I didn't talk to my preceptor before giving the med as I always do otherwise, why I didn't carefully read the policy, why, why, why. I am sick about it for so many reasons: I could have caused harm to the patient and her baby (thankfully, nothing happened). I am ashamed and embarrassed in front of my new coworkers, who will see me as careless or stupid or dangerous now. I wonder if I should even be working here in this high intensity, litigation-likely, high-stakes area. And, I wonder if I should even be a nurse.

I guess I am looking for advice on how to get over this. Or for someone to tell me to find a new job. 'Cause I've already been looking.

Thanks.

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Specializes in CVICU.

Ok, yes, it was a stupid mistake. I'm assuming this because you're so adamant about it. I can't say much more about that part of it because I have no idea what you did. But I can say this - the fact that you're spending so much time beating yourself up about it tells me that you are a good nurse, that you're conscientious and you have the heart to feel horrible about a mistake. And that you will never, ever make the same mistake again.

I don't know if the mistake you made was a career-ender, but somehow I doubt it. It seems like we blow things way out of proportion in our minds an awful lot of the time.

Talk to your preceptor or manager or somebody who can help you get through this.

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Specializes in Pedi Rehab,Pediatrics, PICU.

Everyone makes mistakes, even well-seasoned nurses. I was watching "NICU" the other day.... The MD had to perform a cardiac surgery to connect some vessels to the heart thad had not implanted in-utero. After surgery, over the next 2 days the infant continued to decline. Turns out, the MD had connected the vessels to the wrong location. He admitted the error, repeated the surgery to correct it and apologized for the error. Baby survived...... We are only human. No one-is error proof. You have to evaluate the root cause for the error (not that you're stupid/careless/or completely incompetent), see what could've been done differently, and learn from it. Don't beat yourself up about it too much.

IMO, it's definitely not a cause to leave the unit or find other employment. You're still on orientation for crying out loud. This is the time when one is prone to mistakes, even with prior exp in a diff field. This is new for you no matter what other exp youu have. I doubt your co-workers will see you as careless, stupid or dangerous. They should look at it as someone new to their specialty who made a mistake, is remorseful, and judging by your reaction to the error, will probably never repeat it again. Chances are this will make you a better, more conscientious nurse.

Keep your head up. You'll get through this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (lots of hugs)

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THANK YOU.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Being human means making mistakes. You MUST forgive yourself and move on; we've all been there.

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I bet you won't make that mistake again. Be thankful that no harm was done and use this experience as a learning lesson; You have beaten yourself up enough already. Think about it; what if your mistake had caused harm to the mother and her baby? What if you had lost your license? Those are pretty scary thoughts, right? However, thank God you were spared that ordeal. I would use this opportunity to focus on the fact that no harm occurred and a big lesson learned. You are already so remorseful so I know you will become a much more careful nurse in the future. Mistakes are made sometimes because we are humans. I hope the floor will use your mistake as a learning lesson for others instead of a punishment to you. Give yourself a break and do not use your mistake as a death sentence or cripple your confidence. Brush yourself off, push your shoulders back up and stand with confidence. This too shall pass.

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You may have made a "stupid" mistake, but it was just that--a mistake. There was not any malice or intent to harm, or even neglect involved. You are human and as humans, we all make mistakes. Forgive yourself, strive for excellence again, then just do the best you can.

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You made a mistake, it has happened to us all, and it may well happen to you again. But you owned it, got help and made it right. That is the true hallmark of a sensitive, moral and caring nurse. NO ONE can give you more grief than you did yourself, and EVERYONE of those nurses and doctors, that you think look down on you has been there themselves.

It's over. Your attention to detail is now in hyperdrive, and you will go on to have a long and stellar career.

Many hugs for your fantastic commitment to your patients!:yeah:

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Specializes in icu-telemetry.

hello,

please Stop beating yourself....everyday on every hospital in the US thousands of mistakes are made, mostly by MD,s...causing undue Deaths. everybody knws about it.

right now as i write, mistakes are being made on every hospital floor, believe it or not. please refer to IOM report about safe medical practice.

the thing is once you make a mistake, based on my experience, you have to pass the crucible of Debilitating, morale-crushing rumors, derogatory remarks and eyeball rolling mostly done "behind your back". THEY ARE NORMAL in nursing and hospital floors.

everybody has to say something on just about anything. it's all about nurses eating their young, hospital politics and yada yada etc etc so on so forth ...you know what i mean.

In all probability, your NM or ANM or floor charge could have committed worse things on the floor compared to yours. You just don't know.

so cheer up, fight a good fight, be a sport and be the best that you can...which i honestly think you will be after this.

the other day the MD's who indirectly caused the death of one of our patients (by mistakenly stopping anti coagulation on a massive PE), i saw him strollingon the lobby and whistling as if nothing happened. Also the other day themd who hastened the death of one of our severe chf patient (bnp 1500), who also ordered 2000 ml ns boluses, with the patient dying within hours......i saw him laughing the morning after. And beat this..... one of the floor nurses i know who left a patient for several hours unresponsive on the bed, had a code blue, intubated and had injury....guess where she is now? she was made the floor'sAnm/charge!!!

so lighten up...just fight a good fight....just dont forget the nursing floor is a despicable world of politics....any violent objections from reading Rn's? I am sorry i am not responding to rebuttals about my claim of the floor being a dirty world of politics....the thing speaks for itself....a prima facie thing u know....i just need to share this to her to prevent her from being a cusualty.......

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keep ya head up

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

Are you looking for a friendly shoulder to cry on or an honest response to your problem?

If it is the former, here goes: There was only ever one perfect human being born and he ended up up taking the blame for other peoples mistakes. Learn from it and you'l be fine.

If that is all you needed stop reading here. Otherwise:

Every unit has a different level of autonomy and clinical critical thinking skills. If you find the degree of decision making and autonomy is beyond what you are comfortable with- maybe this unit isn't for you. Not knowing your the details of your mistake I can't comment on whether I think you have "the stuff" to work this unit. Even if I did know all the details,

what makes me or anyone else more qualified to make that judgement than you yourself. Do you enjoy these patients? Are you becoming more comfortable with the critical thinking skills involved in thier care? Can you get past this mistake and quit second-guessing yourself? There is nothing wrong with deciding that the level of personal responsibility on this unit isn't your cup of tea. It dosen't make you any less of a nurse than people working that floor for thier careers. The point is , if you love it- move on from the error and learn the job. If you are jumping at your own shadow all the time you are on the floor,

look elswhere before you kill yourself or someone else . You are the best judge at this fork in the road.

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Every Nurse gets 1 mulligan per new unit they work per calendar year.

Its in the rules.

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