Making small mistakes. Feeling hopeless

[Whitneyz]

I’ve been in L&D for 5 months now and before that I was a confident med surg nurse. Now in L&D I keep making small mistakes that make me question my skills. We hang LR as a main line for pitocin and I know this but somehow was not paying attention and put the pitocin as the main line. I unhooked the patient before I left as we stopped the pit but I still had the flow backwards. The next nurse hooked her up and decided to flush the pit line to rid the old fluid. Not knowing I had it backward she flushed what she though was pit but was actually the LR and ended up blousing the patient with pitocin. The small mistake I made caused no harm but I feel like the worst nurse there has ever been. My unit makes me feel like they are perfect and no one else makes mistakes. I’m feeling very hopeless. 

[Graceisland, BSN, RN]

I used to work in a unit where I was made to feel awful for my mistakes. Now I work in a place where mistakes are addressed with a "how can we do better next time" attitude and it's so wonderful! I guess it's just a matter of luck in finding a great place to work.

Every place I've worked the pitocin is always hung on a separate line with a separate pump. Is your unit actually hanging the pit as a piggyback? That's just asking for trouble, IMO.

Hopefully you'll start to feel better about yourself as an L&D nurse as you gain more experience. I'm sure the nurses you work with have all made mistakes before. Maybe they've just forgotten? 

[MsNurse1997]

Our unit hangs LR and Pit on 2 separate primary lines and pumps. I feel like this is how it is done in most places and it keeps that from happening. Otherwise it can be a disaster waiting to happen. I would clarify how you are supposed to hang Pit with your educator. Cause I’m almost certain it shouldn’t be piggyback. Does your unit use anesthesia manifold tubing? The tubbing that has 3 separate anti-backflow ports? I always connect my Pit to the farthest port away from the patient on the anesthesia tubing. It lets me know that my pit isn’t back flowing into my LR or my antibiotic that’s running in case I need to turn it off.