Made a terrible mistake at work and now I'm about to put in my 2week notice

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

A couple of weeks ago a student came in and states she got hit on her head with a metal pole. I looked and palpated and saw no visible injury. Ice was given. She was alert and oriented x3 , no N/V. She's also a frequent flyer and comes to the HR on a weekly basis. Long story short: Her mother calls the principal today and asked why did I not call home or send a parent letter home ? The parent was upset. I admit I did make a terrible mistake in not notifying the parent. I've already beaten myself up about it. I should of called or sent a note or something. I feel really bad. The parent says the student have been C/O of a HA since the injury. She has been in the HR alot C/O HA before the injury as well. So maybe she's really sick. She also had a really bad tooth infection that I advised mom to take her to the Dentist ASAP, and maybe that contributed to her HA.

I think that I'm too stressed right now to do my job. I'm a student nurse and with nursing constantly on my mind I think it kind of distracts my mind a little while at work. Being in school and working full time has cause me to be stressed, have anxiety, and be depressed. The children deserve a way better person to care for them. My worst night mare have came true. My worst nightmare have always been that I'll be too stressed from NS that I'll actually perform poorly at work, which is exactly whatI 've done. :crying2::crying2:

I think I'm going to quit working until I'm done with nursing school. Yes, I'll be broke however it breaks my heart that something major can go undetected just because I'm overwhelmed and stressed.

Even the principal told my boss that I've been a little uptight....

I don't know I just feel terrible. Every morning before work I pray to GOD that he'll touch each and every kid and also enable me to care for them. I just have to do whats best for me and the school. They are much better off with out me anyway. I know I care for them alot, however with the stress of nursing school I feel like I'm mentally not able to do this anymore.

Thanks for reading. I'm sorry if its hard to read, clearly I'm still shaken up by the whole incident. :crying2:

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I am so sorry this happened! Please try not to beat yourself up about it, everyone makes mistakes. Maybe yours was due to stress from nursing school, but maybe it was just one of those things that would have happened anyway.

I have made a similar mistake. A child fell on the playground and was complaining that her back hurt. I checked her out and sure enough there were a couple of scratches on her upper back, and a little blood on the shirt. I cleaned it up and sent her off. Found out the next day that she has a big goose egg on the back of her head, and I had not even seen it! Her mother was understanding, but I should have assessed the child more carefully. Thankfully, everything was ok (as it seems to be in your case). On the SAME DAY as this happened, I put a kid on the bus with an injured finger that turned out to be broken. Sure, the injury happened right at dismissal time, and I did send him home with an ice pack and a note, but I still should have called home. Again, I was fortunate that the mom understood. But man, I felt about 2 inches tall when I went to my principal and told him my two mistakes in the same day!

It is a learning experience. Next time, you will call the parent and send a note. Only you can determine if you really need to devote all your time to school, but try not to let this one thing get in your way of working. Those kids need YOU, and you are good enough! Keep your head up! :icon_hug:

[BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN]

nursing student,

do not make any decision for a minimum of another 24-48 hours. if you run away because you made a mistake, you will always run. make up your mind that every "mistake" is a learning opportunity and then learn from it. do not allow one parent to shatter your confidence.

yes, she was hit in the head and you should have called mom, but you didn't. it's over. you will never forget to call a parent for this again. by your own words, you are not a nurse (yet); next time, call the nurse that you work under and have him/her assess the situation.

i'm sending good thoughts and hugs :icon_hug: your way. let me know what you decide.

sara

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Face it, not every decision that you make is going to be the right one. It's difficult, especially with the frequent flyers to determine when you need to make the call. When the boy cries wolf one too many times then you can't necessarily be 100 % blamed for not springing into action when you hear him shouting for real. You also have to accept that the parents are going to give you a hard time over things like this. You have to learn to roll with it.

There are a few things going on here. #1 - how old is this student? She should be able to tell her mom herself that she bumped her head in school. You assessed her, and didn't see immediate cause for alarm. Should you have made the courtesy call? sure - but i don't think not making that call is an offense that should cause you to cease employment. #2 - it took her a few WEEKS to call?? I know that head traumas can have effects down the road, but if there was no evidence at the time, it's unlikely (though not impossible) that the bump to her head caused recurring headaches.

#3 - if you have documented history of headaches, it may be something to again bring to mom's attention. Usually, if i get a pattern or a high number of one complaint from a particular student i will send a note or make a call to the parent anyhow. I try to send notification also when the student reaches 10 visits to my office (unless there is a specific reason).

I am not going to tell you not to give your notice - that is a decision that you have to make for yourself. I will say, though, that if a complaint from a parent such as that was enough to make a school nurse quit, none of us would be working today.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Can you at least try to hold out for the end of the year and think about it over the summer? I hate to think of you making this decision while you are upset then later regretting it. You are getting some good experience and probably good references that will help you when you complete school. Again, so sorry you are going through this.

[missfixit]

Mom waited 2 weeks to decide to complain?! Give me a break!! Yes, you probably should have called and informed Mom of your findings, but we all have not made a call when we probably should have. We all make mistakes. I have made similar mistakes, but I also relaize that I am not perfect and will probably make more before my career is up. I think you are beating yourself up way too much. Learn from it and let it go. Some parents are going to complain no matter how you handle a situation.

I probably see 10 kids a day that have bumped there heads, so what I do is call the parent, send a head injury sheet to the teacher and the teacher sends it home for the parent. I also document if I was able or unable to reach the parent by phone, on that sheet. That way if I was not able to reach the parent they see that an effort was made to contact them.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Thanks so much you guys. I do feel much better. I have learned from this mistake and I'm sure the little girl will be just fine. Mom did take her to the ER for other, there were no indications for a Head injury, nor did they do tests pertaining to a Head injury, she was in there due to a probable pneumonia, and ofcourse mom did not even bring up the head injury. Today we also investigated to see if the girls story was true. And come to find out no teacher reported that this ever happened, nor was any children in reach of a pole to hit her in the head with. So the students story is a little fishy, however I still recognize my mistake. Sure enough I had 3 students come in with " head injuries" and I followed the appropiate protocol. ( note home, TC to parent, and so on). :)

I've decided that I'll tough it out until near the rest of the school year. School is out in June however my summer course will have clinicals during the days so there is no way I'll be able to work summer school.

I'm also glad that spring break is coming up ! It'll give me time to relax and focus more on my studies.

With one day off a week until the end of May I think I'll be able to manage.

Thanks for all of the encouragement.

[skoolnurse]

Please - I have been a school nurse for 8 years, and unless your name is GOD, we all the the potential to mess up on occasion. I agree with all the others. Do not turn in your notice, and take the summer off to recoup. Talk to your supervisors for guidance, and ways for this error not to happen again, but do not quit.

[kidsnurse1969]

I'm an RN and this is my 3rd year in the school system. I have to admit that I don't always call the parents with every apparently minor head injury. As you learn and get more experience, you can trust your judgment more.

If working and taking classes are too overwhelming for you right now, is it possible to consider cutting back your hours at work? While the kids need someone to care for them right now, you need to consider your future! Do what is best for you and your career long term.

[bergren]

nursing student 19

So sorry about this. When these things happen, it makes us better nurses. I am sure you have memorized the P & P manual now for what to do in this and other instances, and document document document. You also did the very best thing when you realized your mistake, you owned up to it, did not try to make excuses or pass the buck, and resolved to follow the protocol in the future.

Thank goodness the little girl is OK from whatever (?) happened with her head.

I hate to say this, but if you stay in nursing long enough, this is not the only time you will make a mistake. We can only do our best, stay up to date with what is expected, slow ourselves down, follow protocols, and fix a system and protocols that do not work.

I am glad you are starting to feel better. Forgive yourself and try to move on.

[Bella1310]

You are just the person I'd want to care for my children. It's obvious you care deeply for their well being. Please don't give up, we NEED people like you looking out for our kids.

[luvschoolnursing, LPN]

I've been a nurse for MANY years and have worked in the school as an assistant nurse and now the certified nurse for a total of 7 years. Yesterday one of my "regulars" came in c/o generally feeling ill. She is a senior in high school and was leaving last night on a school trip to Florida for a cheerleading competition. I assumed she just wanted to go home and get packed and ready for her trip.

She said "would you at least take my temperature-I'm really sick" It was 101.4. I apologized. She laughed and said, "I know I'm usually a faker, I guess that's what I get." When I called her mom, I even told her I tried to send her daughter back to class sick. Mom laughed and said, "That's what she gets for usually being a faker"

Yeah, I did the wrong thing. Yeah, it worked out alright. Don't beat yourself up about it. Next time you'll call home. And I'll probably take a temp on a lot of "fakers" from now on! You'll be a great nurse.