Med errors...the scary reality

Don't sweat it - that's exactly what you'll learn in school..!

The scary reality is that you will make one. Probably not in school, because you are watched so closely and have so few patients, but when you're out on the floor, rushing, on your own, and you blast through the three checks / five rights.

Just remember that what they teach you in school is designed to minimize that risk as much as possible - and FOLLOW IT.

I have begun my preceptorship and my orientation to the CCU. The nursing staff is very busy with the routine stuff, then add in all the delays and unforeseen events, and time management becomes an issue. I am getting myself in the habit of following the "5-rights" of medication administration: The right patient, medication, time, dosage, and method.... It may take 30 seconds to a minute of extra time to complete the "5-rights", but imagine the delay and extra time to correct the mistake....OUCH Also, check for the expiration date. And, when ever giving insulin... have another individual look at your dosage. This goes for any "HIGH RISK" medication. Remember, it is better to slow down and do it right the first time, then to speed through and have to repeat or make a mistake which requires extra time to correct. There is just too many unforeseen events that will be happening, and one does not need additional.

The worst thing you can do is think that you wont make a mistake. But the hope is that you catch yourself before you deliver the med. The mistake I made was thinking and telling myself that "Oh I'll never make a med error" Well when your rushed and not paying attention or your in a new setting you run the chance of making a med error. I made 2 during my orientation and I was soo disheartened until I hear about a good RN friend of mine accidently bolused a paient with Levo. So ya know what, no harm no fault. I learned from my mistakes and thats all you can do.

Remember, it is better to slow down and do it right the first time, then to speed through and have to repeat or make a mistake which requires extra time to correct.

Shouldn't "or harms a patient" be in that list?

Here are just a few of the things that have happened in our ICU, all of them from excellent and seasoned nurses (except for the one that I did, I was new at the time):

1. An entire bag of dilauded that was meant to run for 10 hours went into a patient in 30 minutes. Luckily, the patient was a terminal cancer patient and used to high doses of narcs, so it didn't even faze her.

2. An immediate post open heart patient accidentally had not one, but two bags of heparin infused because the RN thought she was hanging hespan.

3. A patient was overdosed with 12mg of Coumadin (this one was me when I was very, very new) when he should have gotten 1.2mg. This is why doctors should have better handwriting, but I should have known it was a super huge dose.

It happens. It's horrible and it makes you want to puke when you realize you've done it. You likely won't lose your job unless you are a habitual offender. Anyone can make a mistake - it's learning from it that matters most. And of course, not hurting your patient.

None of the above patients suffered any lasting harm from the above events.

I always go back to what Dr. Cox said on Scrubs. Quit worrying about if you're going to kill someone. You're going to. It's kind of true - in your career there will be mistakes and deaths that you could have prevented, but you just do the best you can anyway. And hopefully, if you're lucky, there was no harm to the patient or it's fixable. Sometimes it won't be.

moved to Pre Nursing Student forum :)

It just makes me want to PUKE thinking that I could possibly kill someone...but then again, I know that I'm going to make a great nurse. When I was working in Waterloo as a CNA we had a CMA make a huge med error--and gave a resident who was basicly independent, an antipsychotic and some kind of sleeping pill. The error resulted in a fall and a head injury. I don't remember what happened (if anything) to the CMA...but that still sticks with me. The family was...well...really upset, to say the least.

+1 with the rest of the stuff..Just gotta pay attention