My first med error happened today

[algebra_demystified]

I'm working in LTC right now, and normally we have a med aid who passes the meds. Today one of the floor nurses called in sick, so the LVN who was scheduled to pass meds today ended up working half the building, so she handled nursing duties for half the floor and passing meds there, and I handled nursing duties for the other half and passed meds.

It's widely known in this building that passing meds is a full time job, and so is nursing. We were short-handed today.

To make a long story short, my patient needed pain medication and I confused one kind of hydrocodone with another kind. I used a d/c'd med in the place of a missing med. It looked to me as though it was the same thing, but one was sustained release and the other was standard release. My mistake.

I have six weeks' experience on the floor, and the other nurse had six months. My experience tonight has me thinking that maybe LTC isn't for me at this time. If there wasn't a D/C'd med in the cart, I would have ended up going to the emergency supply box for the right med, or would have called the on-call nurse manager for advice. But, the med was there, and as it turns out the other nurse was a little confused on that patient's meds anyway as double the number of his other pain meds was ordered and none of the one that ran out was ordered.

I'm not bagging on the other nurse. It just seems to me that the support structure isn't in place to properly orient a new nurse to the correct execution of duties.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

I'm working in LTC right now, and normally we have a med aid who passes the meds. Today one of the floor nurses called in sick, so the LVN who was scheduled to pass meds today ended up working half the building, so she handled nursing duties for half the floor and passing meds there, and I handled nursing duties for the other half and passed meds.

It's widely known in this building that passing meds is a full time job, and so is nursing. We were short-handed today.

To make a long story short, my patient needed pain medication and I confused one kind of hydrocodone with another kind. I used a d/c'd med in the place of a missing med. It looked to me as though it was the same thing, but one was sustained release and the other was standard release. My mistake.

I have six weeks' experience on the floor, and the other nurse had six months. My experience tonight has me thinking that maybe LTC isn't for me at this time. If there wasn't a D/C'd med in the cart, I would have ended up going to the emergency supply box for the right med, or would have called the on-call nurse manager for advice. But, the med was there, and as it turns out the other nurse was a little confused on that patient's meds anyway as double the number of his other pain meds was ordered and none of the one that ran out was ordered.

I'm not bagging on the other nurse. It just seems to me that the support structure isn't in place to properly orient a new nurse to the correct execution of duties.

me thinks, your last line says it all.....