mistakes made during your first year...

hi, i've also been working as a new grad now for about a month and a half, and am terrified every day i go in. we had 2 weeks of classroom stuff about the hospital's policies and equipment, but only 6 "buddy shifts" to actually orientate us to the unit. and for me it was not enough. on my last shift a made a med error and gave fragmin to pt. with a fractured femur who was going for surgery the next day (he had received it the night before and was on the OR list for the day i gave it, but his OR was cancelled prior to my giving it the next night). i called the doc immediately who laughed and gave me an order for it. and my "buddy" said that if i got an order i didn't need to fill out a report.

i haven't been in since, and don't know what happened, if anything. i've been feeling terrible and beating myself up about it. i know i messed up and from now on am going to be ridiculously anal about checking my meds 3 times like i was taught. but i still feel like crap.

there are also other minor mistakes that i'm making, and its all just making me question if i'm cut out for this

I remember those days well...though it was 30 years ago. Yes, each new RN is rattled and feels vulnerable to making mistakes. Afraid if the feeling is shared with the other nurses, respect will be lost. Hang in there. Insist on a mentor; realistic level of assignment. Keep communication open with your direct supervisor. Be brave and forthright framing all in your commitment to high quality patient care. Often new nurses shadow first, then jump in after a few days of becoming familiar with watching workflow. Buddy with other new hire new nurses --it helps

The biggest mistake I made my first year of nursing was being too hard on myself. I beat myself up and lived over every mistake I made ad nauseum. I nearly quit my awesome job because of it, I didn't think I was cut out for the NICU.

Please, be kind to yourself. Care about your patients and what you are doing. To err is human, just be sure to own your mistakes and do what it takes to rectify them. Leave the emotional trauma at work, I lost so much sleep over mistakes I made, even though my patients were just fine.

LVN here, but have already made mistakes and feel awful , I wish I could shake this 'beating myself up' but it always lasts a few days. My main error was an insulin error believe it or not, though what happened was the pts sugar was so high it didnt even register on our machines, it just read 'HI' so I told my supervisor which we grabbed another machine to recheck and got the same results .. checked the MAR and gave the allotted dose which was 14u, then I was to recheck in 2 hours. After I rechecked it was 487, I looked per sliding scale, drew the dose and gave it to him , HELLO? what was I thinking? I gave him an extra dose of insulin , I think it was just the auto pilot, but I got written up and of course we monitored him all night, he was very compliant and said the highest hes been was in the 800s.... I felt AWFUL ... then another time I was just 2 doors down medicating a GT patient, her tube is slow so I allow plenty of time, in the meantime one of my aspiration/GT pts was choking, he had a lot of this happening on a daily basis, but this time he turned blue and there was a family member who just ran out to the other nursing station, never bothered to yell for help,so by the time I came out of the room where I was there were 4 nurses in there suctioning him,o2 sat, etc etc, I felt really DUMB! then tonight I made an error of calling 911 to send my pt out who ended uo being a Hospice pt. when I realized I cancelled the call but it was too late they were already there so they had to assess the pt. the supervisor was really ticked at me.... ugh. I had to come here to type .. whats worse is when I got home I realized I forgot to chart on this pt., why why why ME? whats worse is for the next 2 weeks all eyes will be on me ... like Im this awful horrible nurse that doesnt know anything, thats how it is at my work...

Oh, yes. I've been on my own now for about 2 months and I can list them already:

1. Forgetting to have someone sign off on my insulin.

2. Now knowing that I had to get blood cultures STAT once the entire sepsis bundle is ordered on a pt. with a temp/wound possible sepsis.

3. Totally forgetting how to hang a bottle of tube feeding (now -- THAT is totally dumb), and having it beep all night because I didn't prime it right).

4. Med error -- gave a whole dose of SOMETHING, when I was supposed to cut it in half. Interestingly enough, doc didn't even flinch when I told him. He just DC'd the drug.

Little stuff like that -- I mean, all potentially with big consequences. I always try to admit to any mistake and learn from it -- always. It's the only honest thing anyone can do. I ask, ask, ask, if I'm unsure about ANYTHING -- always.

I have gotten in the habit of calling anyone at any number I can -- lab, pharmacy, etc -- and letting them tell me what to do. Your hospital has so many resources -- you just have to use them.

I think as long as any error is honest -- and you admit it and try to correct it, you're doing the best you can.

gosh here I go to work and DREADING when I get there, Im going in a bit earlier to chart and get ready to get my butt chewed ...

Experienced nurses make mistakes too, my advice is to own up when you make one, learn from it and hopefully you won't make the same mistake again. You will probably be your harshest critic.

I've done minor things like I forgot a patient was due for IV antibiotics at 10:00, not a usual med time and it wasn't picked up until 14:00.

a patient was switched from IV hydrcortisone to oral and I forgot to give the med at 12:00, realised when i got home at 16:00, rang the ward and told them i forgot could they please give it.

neither of these things were really an issue

one of my most recent mistakes was sending a patient back to their nursing home without their medications :uhoh21: nursing home phoned up, not happy to speak to the ward sister. She called me over and told me what i'd done but said not to worry she'd sorted it.

having mistakes often happens when you are new at the area.

just be reminded of your duties and responsibilities as nurses and everything will follow smoothly...

I am still on classroom orientation for another 2 weeks and I am just soooo nervous for the first time with my preceptor or the 1st time I am going to by myself. I know that I am not perfect and that I will make mistakes but the thought of making med errors is just looming over me everytime I even think about work. I know that it will ahppen, but I`m scared about that first time!!!!

I could not have said that better myself. Rhonda

With your med errors, just do your triple checks. Once while pulling them out of the machine, again, at the counter, and again, at the bedside. Properly ID the patient and you really should catch most of them. Always watch the ones that have to be split in half . ..those get me sometimes.

Always remember to verify insulins ...you wont' believe how fast you get going and forget to do this - and you NEED to do it because you can make errors.

Look up drugs you'renot familiar with -- always. Never give smething you're not sure of.

I ask patients also -- is this your normal dose? Is this when you take this?, etc, etc -- sometimes they know more than we do!

I am BAD at remembering 6 a.m. meds on night shift. I am so involved in labs and new admits, I forget I have those meds and am always scurrying to get them done.

I think I'm worse at remembering to give meds on time, rather than making errors with them.

I've caught pharmacy errors also, just by paying attention to the MAG. Just pay attention -- every patient, every time.