Medication Administration

Triddin · Jun 26, 2018

Well, I agree that the time to make mistakes is when you are learning, and it sounds like the error was prevented before it reached the patient, which is good. However, depending on the medications you almost gave, the outcome could have been really bad had it not been caught. You do need to take responsibility for your actions. Sure the nurse gave you the wrong medications, but your medication checks should include checking patient name and comparing them to the mar which would have clued you in thee were the wrong meds.

The feeling of realizing that you've made a med error is awful, but use this experience to reflect in your practice on how to prevent this in the future.

Your instructor should not have talked to you that way, but they do have the right to ask you to leave if they don't feel you are safe to practice.

RNJenn47201 · Jun 27, 2018

Hello! I'm a LVN nursing student in second term. I've been with G-Tube patient since April this year. I just started yesterday with my second patient who takes meds by mouth (P.O.). Yesterday I gave all the medications prescribed for morning. My clinical teacher was present to watch me. I was slow due to explaining and giving meds. I did not know that on bubble packs, the number corresponds to the day of the month. I followed the next bubble to be popped. There was 2 packs of same medication, Valporic Acid, 250mg each tablet & patients dose is 500mg. I gave both medications & my clinical teacher saw me cause I was going slow. 10 minutes later I get called into hallway, asking me if I gave meds & of course I said yes because I did. I know I did, I remember. The nurse said I was lying & this is my profession-I have nothing to lie about. She also said I had an attitude problem to teacher when I always do my best to be polite and kind, share my smile with others. Today, I'm preparing meds to give to first patient and the nurse gave me one of her meds, I was so caught up in making sure I got the bubble pack right, I checked medication but not patient's name. I blanked. I accept all blame and fault eve though she handed wrong medication. I went to give my patient her meds & my teacher has never been with me to watch me, & I tell the patient their medications I'm giving. I come back and my clinical teacher is asking me if I'm crazy, if I'm stupid, can't read. I was frozen in words and I could hardly reply, mixed between feeling embarrassed, uncomfortable feeling released through my body. I told her that the nurse gave me the wrong patient's meds even though she knew the patient I administer meds to especially since we were talking about meds I needed for my patient. I'm only human and I feel horrible. I just want to improve but I was told to leave, go home. I don't know who to talk to. I'm sitting in a fellow classmate's vehicle since my vehicle was totaled last year. I don't know if I should talk to DON, but I'm scared. I'm only a student, I'm only human. I know the time to make any mistake is when you're learning so you don't repeat again. Any input is much appreciated. Thank you & have a good day!

Bold is mine. I don't know if this is different in other facilities, but every where I've worked the number on the blister pack never corresponds to the date. Usually the number just corresponds to the number of pills. It seems like you were caught up in trying to make sure the date matched the blister and that distracted you. Even if that is the case and you were distracted, if you did your 5 (or 6 or 7 or 8) rights the error may have been caught. I'd probably either approach your clinical instructor for a 1:1 meeting on a different day (when she's cooled down and not distracted by your classmates), or your program director to figure out what your next steps should be.