Medication Error

[emKayLPN]

I have been a nurse for almost a year now, and I have been very excited lately that I am almost to the first year mark.

anyways, I made a medication error last night and I am super upset about it. Although I have made an error or two before, I just am really unhappy with myself about this one.

what happened was a patient receives 100 mg of Zoloft once daily. He used to receive it at HS but it was recently changed to AM. I made a mistake last night and passed the pill at HS. So, it was given at 07:00, given at 20:00. I immediately checked on the patient - sleeping well, vitals at baseline, no change in demeanor. I then spoke to the psychiatrist (the prescriber). The psychiatrist said to give his AM dose as normal (no need to hold it) and not to worry about it, that it's okay.

i filled out an incident report and self reported but I just am so upset. I am fearful of losing my job but I found it best to self report than be deceptive, better to be self aware than to have someone else point it out, right? I have only been at my job for 2.5 months, so that adds to the anxiety. The thing is, I really love my job. It's been a tough year - I tried a couple jobs - but this one just feels right. I work in corrections and I am extremely passionate and enthusiastic about the work I do.

so, yeah, basically I feel horrible.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

(((hugs)))

We all make mistakes. The good news is that most of them are fairly harmless (as was yours). Try not to beat yourself up too much. You're only human.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

((HUGS)) we ALL make mistakes.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I think you are handling the situation in the best way.

You aren't blaming everyone else; you understood that you made a mistake.

The incident report, calling to inform the doctor and self report makes for good damage control.

Sometimes making an effort to control the damage is a better decision and will help you keep your job better than an unsuccessful deception. Deception will get you fired quicker than an honest mistake.

I wish you the best; I have been where you are now.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

We've all been there, done that. The important thing is that you recognize the cause of your error so you can take steps to avoid a repeat.

[amoLucia]

This is so true that you need to analyze WHY/HOW you made your mistake. Were you passing meds by memory? Was some new MAR NOT correctly transcribed? Were you interrupted during your medpass?Knowing what you did wrong can help you (and/or others) from repeating the mistake.

Otherwise, you did all that you needed to do to fix the situation. Good luck.

[catlvr]

Well done! While the goal is to not make a mistake, honesty and analysis are the best path after it is made. We've all doe it, and it will make you a better nurse. And yes, we've all known about other errors that were not reported, and that does little to help the patient or work relationship.