Making mistakes lowers my confidence at job-New Grad RN

[newsupernurse]

I am a new grad RN and have completed 12 weeks at the job but when I make mistakes, my confidence goes down the drain. I go by my time management sheet, I recheck meds twice and try to do complete documentation as the day passes by. One day I took ou the Antibiotic but forgot to start the bag, the other day I charted narcotics on my narrative but failed to chart on medication chart and most of all I gave BP med to patient whose systolic BP was less than 100 and it was only 99 ( this pt had 3 pages of medications). It scares the hell out of me when I realize that once my nurse residency gets over, I won't hv my preceptor watching over me.:confused:

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Guess what? I've been doing this two years and every once in a while that stuff happens to me too (and to my coworkers - I've gone in and found the abx bag still clamped off, or I know someone got their meds and the RN forgot to sign the MAR) - and to compound it further I'm now in the military!

I'm very hard on myself as well. Don't be so hard - it only makes you feel worse.

We've all done this and we'll continue to do it. Does that make it less of a problem? No. It makes us human.

Slow down. Take a deep breath. Don't worry about what might happen tomorrow, just go in thinking you'll do better. Learn from your little mistakes because it will stop you from making bigger ones.

Once, when I'd been off preceptorship for about two weeks, I hung a piggyback backwards. What made it worse was it was chemo! I went in and fessed to my manager and told her how I'd prevent it from happening again (the next few bags I hung I got an RN to go in behind me under the guise of "checking something" for me so the pt wouldn't know I was checking my own work). Guess what - I didn't do it again.

Just a few weeks ago, I missed a potassium replacement order. Was it life or death? No, thank God - but fairly enough I got written up for it. Before my boss even knew about it, I went straight to her office, told her what I did (or in this case, didn't!), and told her how I'd prevent that from happening again. And I've been much more careful and have been successful in my correction.

My point here is learn from your mistakes. Don't beat yourself up. You're human, and you're learning. Even the most experienced RNs on this board don't know everything - we're ALL learning, to a degree. You'll do fine. The fact that you're acknowledging your errors speaks loudly for you. You are, whether you see it or not, learning from them.

Hang in there. :)

[Eldrad]

We all forget stuff from time to time. The best thing you can do for you and your patients is to learn from your mistakes. We had two patients with the same name and I gave them the wrong medications. It was nothing dangerous and worked out because the medication I gave was a lower dose of what they were getting. But I still could have caused harm when I am trying to help. Since then I have double checked everything that I am giving out and making sure it is the right patient and med.

[Katie5]

Sometimes mistakes are made to be learned from. Yes it can be very demoralizing, but try not to waste a single moment dwelling on it. Learn what you can from that and move on.

And at this point in time, you have to be building up confidence and not letting it dwindle- your colleagues are also watching to see how you handle and respond to stuff.

[neutrophil]

I started out in this field as a CMA, Certified Medication Aide. Not even a nurse, medicating up to 110 patients, (residents) per day. The first time I made a med error, I almost BM'd in my pants. But I learned from it. Now I am a nurse. I remember, the patient, the drugs and what I did. Thank God, they were not narcotics or blood thinners, Oxybutinin, simvistatin and calcium +D. I am a much more confident nurse because of that mistake. Good luck.

[Katie5]

I started out in this field as a CMA, Certified Medication Aide. Not even a nurse, medicating up to 110 patients, (residents) per day. The first time I made a med error, I almost BM'd in my pants. But I learned from it. Now I am a nurse. I remember, the patient, the drugs and what I did. Thank God, they were not narcotics or blood thinners, Oxybutinin, simvistatin and calcium +D. I am a much more confident nurse because of that mistake. Good luck.

Certified Medication Aide, aye? Katie bite your tongue.

[Student2Registered]

The first thing I want to tell you is what you are going through is so normal. While I was on my orientation I gave lasix without knowing the K level. No sooner did I give the lasix, I was paged that the lab needed to report a critical lab value to me - it was a low K! I started sweating immediately I thought I was the worst new grad to ever hit the floor. I ran to the doctor in a complete panic and he smiled at me and said "oh ok I'll order her some PO K" There just like that ~ no one was hurt, no one was even mad at me.

Things like this will happen, but as time goes on they happen less and less and all of the sudden you've been doing this about a year and things feel so much better. And then you do a tubing a change and forget to clamp the tubing and get a shower and realize that you are a nurse, but you are still human.

If I can offer any advice to any new grad who's listening I'll say "BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF!"

[Iseeyou_RN, RN]

Ditto everything everyone else has said, "hang in there" etc etc. When I forget something or miss a step I've noticed that usually either I'm trying to do too many things at once or there was some interuption of some kind while I was in the middle of taking out the meds, administering, or charting (interuptions in nursing... wierd!) Then I forget to do something and never get back to it. Maybe that's your problem as well? Try to complete all the steps, ( 5 rights blah blah blah) it's ok to tell people you're in the middle of something unless of course it's an emergency.

12 weeks is just a short amount of time compared with what your whole career will be, it will get better!

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

Certified Medication Aide, aye? Katie bite your tongue.

Really? There is such a profession out there. I did it too. I don't know why there would be any reason to be catty about it.

[newsupernurse]

Thanks all, It was glad to know that it happens in lives of new grads. Iseeyou_RN , you actually explained what happens to me on the floor. Interruptions and then it gets hard to get back to original work. Yes, I will try to complete all the steps.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

There isn't a person on this board who hasn't made a mistake. Identify your problem areas and work on them. We always strive for perfection, but never reach it.

[HumbleWithPride]

I feel so much better reading this...I'm 5 weeks into my 3 month preceptorship at my new job and i dont feel confident working on my own just yet.