New Nurse, Med Error = Lost Job

[NewRN9423]

I am a new nursing working on a neuro med surg unit. I just came off of orientation about 2 weeks ago, and I made a med error where I gave two doses of an IV medication too close together. When I discovered my error, I quickly stopped the IV and only half of the infusion had been given to the patient. I immediately informed my supervisor and the doctor, and then filled out an incident report. To make a long story short, I lost my job as a result of this. My manager stated that I did not make the transition from a task-oriented focus to a critical-thinking focus. I want to improve my critical thinking skills, but I am not finding much out there. Can anyone recommend a critical thinking course, or books I can read to improve my skills before I search for a new job?

[KeepGoingRN]

Honestly, in a perfect world writing down medication times is great. However, IMO you have to get used to not doing it because you will make another mistake of giving the medication too early or late. We all get busy and if a nurse in a previous shift hung an abx late (order is q12) that means that the time that it is scheduled on the MAR will be wrong causing you to give the med early (unless a time change was already requested). Unless its a daily medication, ALWAYS look at the last time the med was given before giving it. Everytime you scan a med it shows you the last time it was given, this takes like 5 secs. NEVER RUSH when it administering meds.

Since this is a pattern when giving abx, you should be looking at the time an abx was given even before grabbing the medication. I do this for abx and prns.