med errors

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ok so ive been a nurse for almost 2 years now and i work in an LTAC and its by far the hardest job ive ever had but ive learned so much here in the past 2 years. LTACs are like ICUs on crack, i mean the wound care and all the vent patients we have is ridiculous. i screwed up and pulled two patients meds at the same time and put one patients meds in their wall bin and then pulled the others and did the same, (or so i thought). i grabbed one patients meds and went to their room and gave the meds and then went back to get the other patients meds and realized that i mixed up the meds in their bins and just gave a patient who doesnt take Coumadin 4mg of it. long story short i told my charge nurse and called the Dr and was told to get a stat pt/aptt and then called my boss and was told to fill out a med variance and that more than likely i would be written up. im worried i may lose my license and or job bc of this but mamma didnt raise no liar and i always own up to my mistakes. ive always wanted to be a nurse and im a very good hearted person but im feeling so guilty bc i screwed up. any advice would be appreciated.

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We are human, and mistakes happen. It should scare you very much that this happened, and the most positive thing that can happen from this now is that you learn to be extra careful. Did your facility teach you to only pull 1 patient's meds at a time? My advice is to never bypass any facility protocols or safety measures again, especially when it comes to medications. For example, rules about pulling only 1 patient's meds at a time or not utilizing bar code scanning devices...etc. When errors occur because the facility protocols weren't followed or safety measures were ignored then you have no saving grace. Never forget your 5 rights, check the meds when you pull them and then again as you are opening them at the bedside. Med errors are serious, but when a med error occurs in my facility it is not punitive. It is meant to be a learning opportunity. If this is your first mistake, I would hope your manager would consider this an opportunity for you to grow. I would also hope she would see your integrity and honesty in this situation as valuable. Others might have hid this mistake, or tried. While the mistake was bad, you took the right steps to correct it and the patient who received the Coumadin can be appropriately monitored, which is what is most important now. You may be written up, and I would take it graciously Med errors can be catastrophic. Thankfully, Coumadin has an antidote. I doubt they would fire you or report you for 1 mistake. I would be lying if I told you I never made a mistake. I remember how awful it feels {{hugs}}

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the Nursing and Patient Medications forum

I think sometimes management forget we are human and mistakes happen. Main thing is you learn from it and try to make sure it doesn't happen again

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Thanks 4 the kind words. We dont scan at bedside we just pull from the PixAss...lol! i was told by my boss just a few min ago that he respected my honesty & i would b a scary bad nurse if i wouldnt have reported it & that i may not even b written up but have 2 do sum additional training on med safety...thankfully when i tt the Dr this morn he said that it happens 2 the best of us & that the pt will b monitored a lil closer 4 the next few days b4 discharge & that i need not worry bc we r human & mistakes happen. I wish we scanned each med b4 giving & scanned each pt's band bc that would make it alot better but we dont scan any bands except when we're doin glucs. Thank u 4 the support but i still feel like a dipshit...sorry 4 kursing...lol!

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Moved to the Nursing and Patient Medications forum

I think sometimes management forget we are human and mistakes happen. Main thing is you learn from it and try to make sure it doesn't happen again

The MAIN thing should be: is the patient okay or did they suffer any harm? We all make mistakes and it can be a systems' problem. One dose of Coumadin probably had no effect at all. BUT, we have to take every error seriously. You won't lose your license over one med error.

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