Med error- manager told everyone at meeting and made me explain

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Need advice from seasoned nurses on how to get past a med error when others won't let me. I'm a new nurse of 7 months. I accidentally gave humalog instead of humalin N. Followed all the protocol afterwards and the patient was fine. The nurse manager then called a meeting and made me explain to the other nurses on my floor what happened. Its embarrassing enough to make a med error...but then to have to tell my coworkers what happened was humiliating! I just want to quit now. I feel she handled it completely wrong. I have beat myself up for the last 2 weeks...and this just makes me feel worse. How can I get past it, when she has announced it to everyone, and now they treat me differently. I wondered if she will put it in the hospital newsletter too, so the whole hospital can know about my error. Should I just quit?!

Thank you,

V

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Definitely, you should just quit!

No, I'm kidding of course. I had something similar happen as well. When it did I was more afraid I'd get kicked out, never thought about quitting. It hurts like hell either way, and there's nothing you can do about it... Other than get over it. I'd also be quicker to believe that the only one who won't let you get past it is yourself and much less everyone else. Your manager ****** up and everyone knows it. I strongly doubt that anyone is treating you differently. If they are it's probably more sorrow for you, after watching you boss rip into you like that.

The question is what do you WANT to do now? Do you really want to quit? Maybe just transfer to a different unit/floor? Or are you mostly happy where you are now?

Sorry V, it's not fair. But you'll be fine as soon as you let yourself breathe again...

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Specializes in Pain, critical care, administration, med.

No one ever wants to make a error but all of us have. Your manager could have made this learning experience much more comfortable. The only way we learn from errors is to share the experience and it should never make anyone feel embarrassed. Quitting will not make it better be bigger than the manager and brush yourself off and move on.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

While it's embarrassing, it very easily could have gotten the point across to the entire unit that everyone needs to be certain of what they're giving. I would consider your public castigation a true failure if you make the same mistake again. Hopefully it also results in no further problems/issues with insulin administration. Was it nice and proper? Probably not. Was it effective? Probably... and everyone makes mistakes, and hopefully nobody dies because of it.

Let this roll off your back, learn from it, and nurse on!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Your manager should never have called you out in public like that. That's not the way to handle these things---it'll just discourage the next nurse who makes an error from reporting it. What she SHOULD have done was discussed it privately with you, and then if it was appropriate for discussion among the other unit nurses, she could've presented it as an anonymous "case study" on how to prevent med errors.

Totally unprofessional and uncalled-for, IMHO. No, I don't think you should quit because of her---don't give her the satisfaction!---but realize that this sort of behavior from management is nothing unusual, and you will see it everywhere. (And yes, I've been management myself, but I never, ever took my nurses or aides to task in front of other staff.) I'm sorry you were treated this way. But, I'd bet you never make a similar med error again, so all is not lost. :yes:

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Specializes in Adult Nurse Practitioner.

I have to agree with VivaLasViejas...your manager did not handle the situation well. I am sure she did not think about how it would make you feel, she just wanted to share the experience with others as a learning experience rather than a public "execution", but all nurses make mistakes and as long as we learn from them and our patients are safe...that is best outcome. Your fellow nurses will not think any less of you, but as VivaLasViejas points out "it'll just discourage the next nurses who makes an error from report it". That is a shame because sometimes errors are made because of a system flaw and reporting can identify problems that need to be addressed. Soooooo, pull yourself up, remind yourself that you are a good nurse, smile, and keep on rolling!

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Thank you all so much for your input. :) You were all very helpful. Although I want to stay at this hospital, I feel that my boss was so disrespectful of my feelings. She didn't even tell me that she was going to do it. Just blindsided me at the meeting. So now i dont trust her. How can i work in an environment of distrust?...I did right thing by reporting it, and then I get persecuted for it. I didn't make an error on purpose, it was an accident! Just knowing I made a med error is hard to accept....everyone else on the floor judging me is even harder. Although some of my coworker's have been so kind and understanding.

Thx again

V

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

One of the primary principles of management: Commend in public, reprimand in private. I am a DON, and if I do mention an error in a staff meeting as a point of education I am careful not to identify the employee who committed the error (who I have already talked to in private beforehand). Calling attention to a specific person's error in an open meeting is extremely poor judgment. All this will accomplish is to damage the confidence of the person being called out, and to make employees more reluctant to report errors lest the same thing happen to them. It will make others more inclined to hide problems and therefore make them harder to detect and to solve. As I often tell my employees, I am interested in finding solutions, not in finding someone to blame. If the problem lies with a specific employee rather than a process, I will address it with that employee - privately.

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Specializes in Adult Nurse Practitioner.

One more comment...I would see about making an appointment to speak with your manager and let her know how you feel. Depending on the outcome, you can then make an informed decision about staying there or moving on.

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Your manager compounded a simple error.

STOP obsessing over her mishandling of the situation!!

I've been a nurse for 30 years.. I proably made that error more than once.

Your ability to maintain a confident demeanor... after this BS error will make or break your career

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I needed to hear that "been there, done that" ...I have been obsessing!! Reading your post actually made me laugh and take a long hard look at myself. I need to move on and put this behind me. Thank for saying what I needed to hear. I have thought about talking with my manager, Ihflnurse, but wonder what good it would do. I needed to forget about it and just do my job.

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You're human. You have the right to make mistakes. But you must learn from them. Which you have, so that's great. I can't believe your manager did that without speaking with you first. Our manager has had employees in our unit who have had made mistakes prepare a small talk so that others can learn from their med mistake. Obviously the employee was in agreement to speak at the meeting and had time to prepare.

I'm sorry your manager did that to you. Obviously we all agree that was probably a mistake of hers. I think you should maybe talk to her if you are feeling up for it. Maybe let her know that you are better when you have notice in talking in front of groups, and that she caught you off guard. If you aren't up for talking. Ok, you guys are even. A mistake for a mistake. If possible, I would try and forget about it. Your coworkers probably already have. So chin up and keep working hard, you know you are a good nurse.

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