Med error new nurse

[MELI88A]

Im a 40 year old new grad nurse working LTC casual.

I'm very inexperienced and unfortunately I made a medication error. I didn't realize until end of shift narc count was off. Missing one Ativan. I don't know what happened to the missing Ativan: I either pushed 2 out of blister pack at same time and one Ativan fell on floor or maybe if ended up in med cup. I don't remember pushing 2 Ativan out of blister pack at once. Did it spill or did I mistakenly give resident two at once or did I give him the prescribed Ativan and a few hours later give it again. I don't know what I actually did which is worse. Management doing an investigation. I'm scared.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

We all make mistakes. It happens. Cooperate with the investigation as much as possible and remember to always count your narcotics when you open the drawer. You may have found the count to be short before you took anything.

Years ago, when I worked on a hematology floor and had a lot of sickle cell patients, I was sent to the pharmacy to pick up a narcotic order. On the way back, the elevator got stuck between floors and I couldn't get out. Meanwhile, I had a BOAT LOAD of narcotics in my possession. When I got off the elevator, two other nurses had to count the narcotics to verify that they were all still there. What a mess!