New-ish RN, missed an order.

[Herman66]

Just finished probationary period. Found out yesterday that I had overlooked a 24* creat. clearance order on a pt. We have Computer Physician Order Entry, where I have a "flag" pop up when my pt. has a new order. Somehow, I acknowledged the flag & didn't see the order. Probably grouped with several other orders, but no excuse. Of course, I'm beating myself up. The Hospitalist drew my attention to this, and ordered a STAT urine proteine & creat, as the pt was going home. I apologized to the hosp. & the Nephrologist. (I should apologize to the Pt. for being such an idiot). Waiting to see if I'm disciplined. Definitely learned a lesson. This ever happen to anyone else? Hoping I don't get fired :/

[eatmysoxRN, ASN, RN]

I find a lot of overlooked orders all the time. We are in the middle of transition to CPOE and still have paper as well. Anyhow, I don't see why they would fire you. Just learn from it and go back over things if they are clumpy.

[Herman66]

Thank you :) I just hope that the night shift RN doesn't get in trouble for not catching my mistake

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I used to find things like this all the time when I worked inpatient. More often than not it was for radiology orders because those orders hid in a different spot and you had to go searching for them. Sometimes, I'd come onto a night shift and see that a stat CT that was ordered at 3pm was never done. It was a faulty system and it represented a breakdown in communication... if a doctor is ordering a stat CT, it would be nice if he called the nurse to say "FYI, your patient needs to go to radiology." Usually, if it's really stat, the nurse knows something is going on with the patient but orders like this get missed all the time. I doubt you'd get fired for this.

[Herman66]

Thank you, it helps to know that others have done this :/

[Aeterna, BSN, RN]

To err is human! We all make mistakes at some point in our careers. Any nurse who says she/he has never made a mistake is either lying or isn't aware of it!

We all miss something or another. We are expected to juggle multiple things at once, so it's almost inevitable that, one day, we will miss one thing. Once, I missed an order for a stat magnesium bolus! I hadn't realized the doctor had come in at around 6pm (less than 2 hours before the end of my shift!) and wrote that order; and, at the same time, I was dealing with a new admission who needed a stat blood transfusion, and then who developed a fever shortly into the transfusion, while at the same time, transferring one of my other patients to palliative care!

And, no, I was not fired for it. Someone called me the next day to make me aware of the missed order. I explained what had happened during that time frame, apologized profusely, felt bad for a little while, but got over it. Live and learn!