Might get kicked out of program...

If that was your first time getting written up, than I dont think you should necessarily get kicked out, just because you did not harm the patient.

It's my second time :-/ First time was I was wearing fake nails (stupid of me....I know).

Fake nails are a clear problem due to infection control issues, and I'm sure you all knew it at the git-go. But leaving meds unlabeled, even in the care of somebody else (who wasn't licensed) leaves too many doors open to disaster. This bespeaks a very basic misunderstanding of the nurse's responsibility regarding medications. 88 in didactic or not, this could be grounds for suspension.

Throw yourself on the mercy of the court and beg for forgiveness, and if you get it, resolve to go forth and SIN NO MORE... and be sure you don't.

@ AliNajaCat

I agree with most of what you said.... but the instructor did leave the medicine with me.... who is also unliscenced alongside my nursing peers. But I can see how the program wants for me to take responsibility for MY patient and their medicine. When I'm a liscenced nurse I am to completely take over the care of my patient. Nurses are to be independent and not rely on the 'expertise' of their peers. Only superiors with extensive training such as head nurses or practitioners....or in my case clinical instructor...... I just really hope they know I learned my lesson. I don't know

how to convince them that I truly have and I will never EVER do something like that again.

I'm reading a common tendency among students on this website to ask their student colleagues about what to do with questions about completing assessment assignments, medicine, or whatever. You need to remember that your student colleagues are probably just as clueless as you about all these questions. You need to go to your faculty with these questions. You probably merit an unsatisfactory in this situation for using poor judgment and looking for help in the wrong place.

@ AliNajaCat

I agree with most of what you said.... but the instructor did leave the medicine with me.... who is also unliscenced alongside my nursing peers. But I can see how the program wants for me to take responsibility for MY patient and their medicine. When I'm a liscenced nurse I am to completely take over the care of my patient. Nurses are to be independent and not rely on the 'expertise' of their peers. Only superiors with extensive training such as head nurses or practitioners....or in my case clinical instructor...... I just really hope they know I learned my lesson. I don't know

how to convince them that I truly have and I will never EVER do something like that again.

The very last thing you want to do is start insinuating guilt in your instructor. If you get into the habit of pointing fingers here or anywhere else, you will surely make that a habit and it will make for a rocky start to your career. In making this statement, you're also implying that you, as a student nurse, cannot be trusted to safeguard one patient's medication.

On the job as a nurse, you will apologize for more things to your patients about crap that has absolutely nothing to do with you, your shift, or nursing period. They could be pissed off because the nearest empty parking spot for granny was two miles down the road from the hospital's front door. What do you do? You apologize that they had that experience and offer ways to make them feel better.

Your instructor has her nursing license. You're trying to get one. Proceed with caution..

@ AliNajaCat

I agree with most of what you said.... but the instructor did leave the medicine with me.... who is also unliscenced alongside my nursing peers.

But the problem is that YOU then left it - THAT was the error. Anybody could have come along (ANOTHER PT, visitor, family, maint man, housekeeper, anybody) and snatch it away or tamper with it. You used your sense of blindly trusting your peers to safeguard it. How could you be 100% sure they wouldn't sabotage it or you. Obviously they meant well.

(And please tell me there was NO Narc or 'counted' med in it.)

At this stage of your schooling, you are expected to be SAFE in safeguarding meds ALONE. That's why your instructor was OK to leave it with you. Wise comment from PPs who note that you're trying to shift error responsibility. You were the unsafe one, which you now realize. Which you have addressed well in the rest of this post. It is sooooo easy to make newbie student mistakes.

Be as humble and apologetic as you can when you meet for your review. Have a written plan of correction ready to go that explains your misjudgment and what should have been (and will be) your correct action for future clinicals.

And to the first respondent here, Simplistic - just the fact OP "did not harm the pt" is a not reasonable defense justification for minimizing the situaation. The were 2 major judgment flaws here.

1 - potential risk for any other person who might have taken that med; and

2 - failure to follow good protocol 'that any other prudent nurse would do in a similar situation'.

I completely agree. Due to my limited time to respond I've already had a meeting with the dean and I'm waiting very anxiously for her answer. In my appeal I made sure not to place blame on the instructors and I tried to make it as clear as possible of how sorry I am for my mistake and how I will do everything in my power from here on to practice safe nursing care. I could tell from her reaction that this is going to be a very difficult decision for her but I know that whatever she decides is final and I'll have to deal with the consequences. Regardless, I still feel that nursing is my calling and I will learn my lesson and do what I can to be reaccepted into the program next year.

Keep us updated and let us know what happens :/

I just received an e-mail from the dean saying that she is going to wave my clinical failure so I am going to be allowed to continue in the program! I am so thankful! I am going to be super careful from here on out! This was a scary lesson that I never want to have to repeat again.

What a relief!

Out of curiousity, is it facility policy to crush and mix all medications together in one cup? This is not best practice, because of exactly the scenario you experienced. If the patient refuses medication, or only takes some, you have no way of knowing how much of what medication has been administered. Medications should be crushed (if allowed) and mixed in separate cups.