Might get kicked out of program...

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I have a very big concern. I have recently received a clinical unsatisfactory due to me leaving prepared medication on a medicine cart. I had originally prepared the medication (mixed pills in applesauce) and attempted to administer it to my assigned patient who was unresponsive and refused. I then asked another nurse to help me administer about 1/3 of the medication but that's all my patient would take. I then went to the medicine cart with my remaining medication and there were 4 other nursing students hanging around the cart and the clinical instructor was not present. I asked all of them their opinion on what I should do with the remaining medication and one person said to just throw it away. I wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing so I set the medication down on the cart right in front of the other students and said I was going to look for the clinical instructor to see what I should do. It was during this time that one of the working nurses came and asked who's patent the medicine belonged to and the other students said it was mine which resulted in the nurse not being too happy and reporting it to my instructor. I know, in hindsight, that I should have taken the medicine with me regardless of who was standing around the medicine cart. But is it justified for me to be kicked out of the whole nursing program and have to start again all over? I have an 88 in the class. Be honest, I can handle constructive criticism.

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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.

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

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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.

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@ 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.

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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.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.
@ 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..

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Specializes in retired LTC.
@ 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'.

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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.

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Keep us updated and let us know what happens :/

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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.

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What a relief!

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