Med error..... Could I lose my license?

[RN66]

Hi. I have a serious question to ask. OK so. A pt had an order for Dilaudid q6. I thought it was q4 because his oxy was q4. I gave it ONE time four hours apart. Realized my mistake at the end of the shift. Didn't tell anyone. Pt is a-OK, still alive. This happened two weeks ago, and it's been eating me alive bc IDK what to do. It's in the chart that I gave it four hours apart, and the order was q6.

Can I lose my license??

I want to tell my manager. But I'm scared. But it's already done, so I'm either gonna lose my license or not at this point. But can someone with experience please shed some light and perspective on this situation????

Thank you so much in advance. 

[Wuzzie]

You aren't going to lose your license. Tell your manager, or it will look like you are trying to hide something. Follow the rights of medication administration every.single.time. Move on and do better?

[caliotter3]

Don't wait for an audit to discover this discrepancy.  Go to your manager now.  At this point, she will be more concerned with your failure to report your mistake than the actual mistake.  Don't make things worse by delaying any longer.

[RN66]

4 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

Don't wait for an audit to discover this discrepancy.  Go to your manager now.  At this point she will be more concerned with your failure to report your mistake than the actual mistake.  Don't make things worse by delaying any longer.

Thanks so much for responding. My hospital has an online reporting method, that I did try to fill out the day after the incident, however the website wasn’t working. I did just turn in the report. But can I lose my license or do you agree with Wuzzy?? 

[caliotter3]

One med error is not going to affect your license, especially if your employer does not make a report to the Board.  Take the energy you are using to worry about that and use it to be more careful in your daily med administration. 

[RN66]

caliotter3 said:

One med error is not going to affect your license, especially if your employer does not make a report to the Board.  Take the energy you are using to worry about that and use it to be more careful in your daily med administration. 

Again, thank you for the information. I don't think there's anything wrong with using energy to be both concerned with the possibility of losing my license AND being more careful with medication administration. But to each their own?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

If you want to see what nurses lose their licenses for, go to your state's BON website. You'll find that the vast majority have zero to do with med errors and a lot to do with criminal issues, drugs, or alcohol. A medication that is given early (and not necessarily a full 2 hours because your facility likely has a protocol in place for meds having a window of time to give) is not a reason to lose a license. If it was, we would have a very, very limited nursing workforce.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Here's a link to PA actions. Once you open the PDF, you can skip to the nursing ones from the first page. You'll see that many are criminals, violating board orders, or have illnesses/drugs/alcohol interfering with the ability to practice safely.

https://www.dos.pa.gov/ProfessionalLicensing/VerifyaProfessional/DisciplinaryActions/Pages/default.aspx

[Sour Lemon]

RN66 said:

Hi. I have a serious question to ask. OK so. A pt had an order for Dilaudid q6. I thought it was q4 because his oxy was q4. I gave it ONE time four hours apart. Realized my mistake at the end of the shift. Didn't tell anyone. Pt is a-OK, still alive. This happened two weeks ago, and it's been eating me alive bc IDK what to do. It's in the chart that I gave it four hours apart, and the order was q6.

Can I lose my license??

I want to tell my manager. But I'm scared. But it's already done, so I'm either gonna lose my license or not at this point. But can someone with experience please shed some light and perspective on this situation????

Thank you so much in advance. 

No, you will not lose your license. And I'm going to be the "unethical" one here and suggest that you leave well enough alone. No harm came to the patient, the amounts pulled and administered match, and the patient's chart is documented correctly.

Informing a manager two weeks after the fact seems like a bad idea under these circumstances. And when you drag a third person into a situation like this one, you may obligate them to take action whether they want to or not.

[caliotter3]

5 minutes ago, Sour Lemon said:

No, you will not lose your license. And I'm going to be the "unethical" one here and suggest that you leave well enough alone. No harm came to the patient, the amounts pulled and administered match, and the patient's chart is documented correctly.

Informing a manager two weeks after the fact seems like a bad idea under these circumstances. And when you drag a third person into a situation like this one, you may obligate them to take action whether they want to or not.

This is the better option.  Over time you will see just how much passes by the wayside when one allows the sleeping dog to continue to sleep undisturbed.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

You must get past the losing your license mindset. Your patient is on a BOATLOAD of narcs. The patient has developed a tolerance. 

NO harm. You learned from this. Keep your lip zipped.

[kaylee.]

Been there,done that said:

You must get past the losing your license mindset. Your patient is on a BOATLOAD of narcs. The patient has  developed a tolerance. 

NO harm.. you learned from this. Keep your lip zipped.

I Agree with this. At this point, that patient was long gone, and it was over, and he was fine. Going to the manager now will be worse because it seems like you were trying to cover it up. As sour lemon admitted, I will also be the "unethical" one and say that if this DID ever resurface, say you did not realize it was q6. The odds of that happening are slim, but saying you knew would be bad. 

As long as you have taken stock and learned something, you can be OK with moving on.