Med Error

[HawtMessRN]

I've been a nurse for over a decade, and have made my first med error. And when I do something, I go big or go home apparently.

I gave BP meds to the wrong patient. I'm not going to go into specifics in case possible coworkers are in this forum. Needless to say, the error was made due to me not performing the patients medication rights. I didn't pay good enough attention, was rushing, also battling burnout...but none of that is an excuse for cutting corners in patient care that led up to this error. 

Thankfully, the patient was unharmed. I owned up to my mistake fully. Filed necessary reports and notified necessary people in timely fashion. Now that it's done, I'm waiting to get talked to from my unit manager. What can I expect? Will they put me in a probationary period due to the severity of my error? I'm so nervous about next steps.

 I feel absolutely awful about this, am thankful the patient is OK, but I've been an absolute emotional wreck since this happened and I don't know if I trust myself anymore and I'm worried my coworkers will also see me in  different light. Like they may not trust me enough to ask for help with their patients anymore, and I'm gutted at that thought. 
 

I guess I'm looking for any reassurances from those that have been down this road before and came out OK. 

[JKL33]

HawtMessRN said:

I guess I'm looking for any reassurances from those that have been down this road before and came out OK. 

It is going to be okay. It really is.

Quote

I feel absolutely awful about this, am thankful the patient is OK, but I've been an absolute emotional wreck since this happened and I don't know if I trust myself anymore and I'm worried my coworkers will also see me in  different light.

If you are the conscientious person that it sounds like you are, most likely this will help you pause and refocus, which is exactly what should happen. You've already identified factors that contributed to your temporary lapse, no doubt you also thought of some things that could be changed or handled differently in order to not let them impair your focus at critical times such as medication administration.  Your coworkers are a non-issue, just put that out of your mind completely. You do not answer to them, not to mention the likelihood that they are not in a perfect place from which to pass judgment.  We are all just out there doing a rough job in trying conditions; if they have a nasty attitude about your error that's on them.

Just take a deep breath, review what happened (sounds like you already have), make changes to refocus, then move on. We pretty much have all been there.

Keep your head up ~

👍🏽

 

[ponderingDNP]

Something like this happened to me many moons ago, before the age of eMAR/bar code scanning. I was horrified! The patient was unharmed. I haven't made that particular mistake since. Even with the barcoding today, unless I know that it is a new order, I verify with the patient whenever possible that the meds are familiar to them by asking them what they are taking the medication for. One patient responded with "you're a nurse; don't you know"?😁

If you are employed by a non-punitive organization, they will focus on what caused you to be so rushed that you made the error. Most of the time, they find that it is a staffing/assignment issue, as was in my case. (I was given all the demanding patients while my coworkers breezed through shift after shift).

Just think about what was going on immediately prior to your pulling your meds, I.e. were you expecting an admission? A couple of your patients calling at the same time? Someone on the phone wanting to give report?

As a nurse with ten years of experience, I feel probation would be overkill after a first-ever offense that resulted in no harm.....unless you are new to the organization. Otherwise, I think you will receive nothing more than a verbal reprimand; maybe a written reprimand if they focus on the fact that it was a blood pressure medication. It wouldn't look good to have multiple nurses on probation. I say this because I can assure you that you are not the only one there making med errors. If you don't tell your coworkers, they won't know because your manager is not suppose to discuss this with the team other than to say something along the lines of "due to a recent incident involving a medication error, we will be having an in-service to serve as a refresher". You are probably punishing yourself more than what your manager will (not making light of the error).