need advice

Published Oct 12, 2014

3 Posts

So, I graduated in July as an LPN. Last night was the first night on my unit alone for a 12 hour shift. I work at a long term care facility. I had 2 patients with nausea in which I gave one some crackers and water and it seemed to help and another Zofran because it was PRN. I think I did okay with that, but I did have some guidance from the RN working with me. Anyways, at the end of my shift, about 30 minutes. A patient has a call light on and when I come in she tells me she is short of breath. For some reason, I didn't think about assessing.. jus treating. She is a COPD patient and is already on 3L of oxygen. My first thought was to see if she had any PRN breathing treatments. She only had scheduled.. and to my stupidity.. I thought about getting in trouble of making a med error if I gave a scheduled med. I gave a PRN med Albuterol which said it's use was for "chest tightness", It said "one puff". I knew albuterol was a bronchodilator and could help her breathe better. I gave it to her and she asked me if she could have two puffs and I didn't stop her because I knew she needed help breathing. After that, she said she was fine and could breathe. I didn't even think to call the doctor... now that I'm at home. I thought of all the things that I SHOULD have done that were SOOOO obvious. I feel like I failed her and my company. SOB is nothing to play around with. I am wondering if everything is okay now.. or if something bad happened after I left.