I feel that I am a rather smart RN on most days, I have been a nurse for 7 years now. I now work on the L&D floor in my hospital. Last night I gave a dose of Demerol 100mg IVP to a postpartum patient that was have pain control issues following her c-section. I really did not think twice about it, as we give a lot of IVP doses on our floor. Also, the doc gave me a verbal order for this in which I thought he said IV. One of my fellow nurses informed me after I had already given the drug that it was usually given IM. I notified the MD right away, and placed bp and pulse ox monitoring on her, which by the way, all her vitals were stable, and she was doing well, just zonked. I wrote myself up and followed our protocols for med errors. After my shift I felt like such a dumbo, I mean I can't believe that I did something so stupid. The doc was not mad and the outcome was good, but do you think I could get in trouble at work for this one?
no, i don't think you'll get in any trouble at all. it's not like you gave it to the wrong patient, and no harm done. it wasn't an outrageous error.
i've seen where doctors will make drug seekers take shots to discourage them from asking for meds every instant. i'm sure that's not what was going on with you... but these days, i've stopped assuming a pain med is iv, even if it can be given that route, and even if they've got a picc or a port.
Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.
Have given 200mg dem iv plus phenergan 25mg every 2 hrs to one of our sickle cell peeps; if he meant IM, ok, mistunderstanding. But IV administation isn't an error on its own, if he wasn't specific in his/her order, thats on the doc, we dont read minds. young healthy person, slow push, monitoring afterwards, you did what I would have done.
traumahawk99
596 Posts
phenergan is definitely on the outs :).
no, i don't think you'll get in any trouble at all. it's not like you gave it to the wrong patient, and no harm done. it wasn't an outrageous error.
i've seen where doctors will make drug seekers take shots to discourage them from asking for meds every instant. i'm sure that's not what was going on with you... but these days, i've stopped assuming a pain med is iv, even if it can be given that route, and even if they've got a picc or a port.