Medication Error

[Flintstones]

I made a medication error. I accidentally gave an IV bolus of 300ml 3% sodium chloride instead of 0.9 Normal Saline. I scanned the medication put for some reason I still missed it. Another RN caught the mistake after the bolus finished. I reported the medication  error and told the doctor. The patient did not have any side effects and sodium recheck level was normal. I am completely devastated and feel terrible. I am worried about what management will do.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

It's a med error. It was caught, reported and followed up on with no adverse effect. Unless you are already in hot water with management for other reasons there shouldn't be any repercussions from management. You might be required to do some kind of education on med administration which would likely be quick and easy but I wouldn't think there would be any punishing discipline. If there is that is not a place I'd want to work for.  Med errors are unfortunate but they happen. Proper reporting, follow up on the error,  education and prevention are typically how this is handled.

[Medic2RN72, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

It happens. I've made med errors as an army medic, paramedic, and nurse. You will in your career, that's part of the job. You are more prone to errors in fast-paced environments, especially when short-staffed because you feel like taking shortcuts will make you faster. You will learn from them, and become vigilant. Don't be hard on yourself, and just learn and try not to repeat the same mistakes. If you want to impress your leadership, see if anything system-wise contributed to the error that may need to be addressed. If no system issue, do some self-reflection to see where the breakdown happened (distracted at pyxis, multi-tasking while administering meds, admin meds BEFORE scanning, etc)

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Retired nurse here. 

Every nurse has done one of the following:

1. Has made a medication error.

2. Hasn't yet made med error. 

3. Doesn't realize when making a med error. 

4. Is lying about never making a med error.

Most errors are the result of system errors contributing to human errors.  If every nurse who ever made a med error was done away with, there would be no nurses. Errors need to be reviewed for causation: labeling, lighting, work environment,  knowledge, overwork, fatigue, cutting corners, etc

The trick is to learn from your mistakes..