Hello, everyone. I am in my last semester of nursing school, and just finished my second day of critical care clinical. However, I left the floor feeling like a failure and stupid. My client had a low BP, and when I told my co-assign, she started worrying. We both entered the room to re-check the BP, and it was still low. She asked why I had not told her sooner. It was about 30 to 45minutes after I had taken it. I felt horrible, and was so busy trying to catch up on paperwork and things, that I spaced. My co-assign was working on other paperwork, and by the time I talked with her it was later than she would have preferred. I felt horrible! I am there to learn and just do not like being scorned. I take responsibility for my actions. I apologized, but left feeling like, wow, maybe I should not be doing this. I love the profession and caring for others, but times like these make be question if I am fit for it.
I one thing i have seen is nurses lying to managers about making errors , and that resulted in them losing there jobs. So never lye about a situation. because i have had my fair share and i am still here. good luck , you will be fine.
I once saw a manager cover up her own medication error. She had been responsible for an error in the MAR and not only did not write up an incident report but did not speak to the physician about the error, which did have an impact on the patient's care.
I think it's important to self-report one's errors and to take responsibility. Oh, sure, if you make the mistake, there's no harm, no one will have to know, right? Wrong. YOU know. I cannot believe the sheer lack of nursing ethics that would make someone, particularly someone in management, cover up his/her own errors, especially while nailing other nurses to the ground if they make mistakes.
Everyone else said it pretty well, but I would like to add a few points...
You seem to be taking it waaay personally. I can't see from the OP where the nurse assigned was unreasonably nasty about asking you why you didn't report it sooner. She may have been trying to get you to think differently or maybe trying to see how you were prioritzing the information. I hope she wasn't terribly condescending or hurtful towards you. But I'm sensitive myself, and I may have taken it personally too.
Myself, as a charge, I hate feeling stupid when I have to call the doc and tell him that the BP documented was an hour ago (possibly an hour before a code, or rapid response)...or even a doc that reads a chart and sees that information and gets like "why wasnt I called for this?" when it may NEVER have been reported?
I will say this, and I hope it doesn't come off cold or condescending myself, but when I was a student too, I had a hard time seeing beyond TASKS and seeing "the big picture". I was more worried about the next thing, the next task, the next measurable thing (vitals, blood sugars, dressing change, meds, etc) and wasn't able to see the whole picture. But as a student, you aren't expected to see it all the way. That will come with experience, sometimes people "get it" right away, and some of us take a little longer.
Oh and I think you made your own point when you said this...."She asked why I had not told her sooner. It was about 30 to 45minutes after I had taken it. I felt horrible, and was so busy trying to catch up on paperwork and things, that I spaced."....I DO THE SAME THING, twelve years later! We are so busy we sometimes forget to "go back and ..." even if we intend to take care of the issue "in a minute." So now you'll know to do each task, stop a minute and think what it means, then follow through right then.
Take it easy on yourself. Your post could have been written by a student nurse, or a seasoned nurse. Let it roll off your back, and try to take situations like these and learn from them and not take them personally.
Thanks for all your advice. I do see how us, as student nurses, become task oriented, instead of seeing the whole picture. I think we all want to impress and do so well, that sometimes a mistake just hits us hard.
On a positive note, what did happen, even though I had reported the low BP later than desired, it did cause my co-assign to look at my client's pass vitals and say "Why has no one caught/reported this?" Thus, resulting in her calling the physician to lower a medication dose. So, it was not a TOTAL mistake or loss... If I had just continued on, the constant low BPs may have continued to be looked over.
Thanks again for all your advice and encouraging words!
Moogie
1 Article; 1,796 Posts
I once saw a manager cover up her own medication error. She had been responsible for an error in the MAR and not only did not write up an incident report but did not speak to the physician about the error, which did have an impact on the patient's care.
I think it's important to self-report one's errors and to take responsibility. Oh, sure, if you make the mistake, there's no harm, no one will have to know, right? Wrong. YOU know. I cannot believe the sheer lack of nursing ethics that would make someone, particularly someone in management, cover up his/her own errors, especially while nailing other nurses to the ground if they make mistakes.