New Nurse....Need Advice

elkpark · Apr 27, 2008

Welcome to allnurses! :balloons: We're glad to have you here!

What you describe is a med error, technically, but it's not anywhere close (by itself) to what it would take to endanger your license.

People get in trouble with the BON and lose their licenses either because they did something really dangerous that caused serious harm to a client, or because of a long pattern of "smaller" problems that the nurse isn't able to fix/improve (and keeps making the same mistakes).

That other nurse is just being mean to you, and she's talking out of her hat. If your facility fired everyone who made a (single) med error, there wouldn't be any staff working there! I doubt v. much that there will be any serious consequences of your incident (unless, of course, there is some other reason that your co-workers are looking to "get" you -- I hope that's not the case ...)

Even if, somehow, bizarrely, you did get fired over this incident, that would not keep you from getting other jobs. Lots of nurses get fired from jobs (for reasons worse than your incident!) and just pick up and go on with their careers.

Please don't spend too much time or energy worrying about this! :)

nursemike, ASN, RN · Apr 27, 2008

While legal advice is not within the scope of allnurses.com, I think it's safe to say the error you describe would not be considered a major one. You've learned, the hard way, that patients can be tricky with their meds. If you see the patient put the meds in her mouth and appear to swallow them, it's really not unreasonable to believe she did swallow them, but patients sometimes have funny ways of doing things. Confused patients may "pocket" meds for reasons that are hard to fathom. A rare few may attempt to deceive you in order to sell or give the meds to someone else. Suicidal patients may try to stockpile meds in order to take a bunch of them at once. For these reasons, it's important to be as sure as you can that the meds are actually swallowed. But I don't think any reasonable nurse would say you were grossly negligent for being tricked.

Also, while Ambien is controlled, it isn't a narcotic. It's true the term "narcotic" derives from "sleep inducing," but the drug is far less addictive and has much less recreational potential/black market value than opioids (narcotics).

Oh, and welcome to allnurses.com!

tampaflrn6 · Apr 27, 2008

First of all, that nurse is wrong. Ambien is not a narcotic! it's a sedative. Besides how do you know if that pill is ambien? .. the seal is off or it could of been that nurse's meds. The patient could of cheeked it like psych patients. Besides it is not an incident that should be reported b/c it did no harm to the patient.

elkpark · Apr 28, 2008

Besides it is not an incident that should be reported b/c it did no harm to the patient.

Any out of the ordinary occurrence/incident should be reported, whether or not a client appeared to have been harmed.

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2008

Missnurse, that senior nurse is just being mean. and trying to ruffle your feathers by threatening you. I always thought of nurses as angles. Kind and full of goodness-cut them and they would bleed honey, sweet people. But you know what, they are just people, everyday people. Unfortunately some are rude and like to freak out the newbies. She probably thinks she is doing you a favor by scaring you about med errors, so just smile and thank her for the warning and keep on doing your work.

crb613, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2008

I am sure you have already learned your lesson. The other nurse is just being plain old mean & a bully at that. You nor she can be sure what kind of pill was found....how can she say it was you....could have been there before your shift.....Just be careful & always check the mouth. I am sure I did not need to tell you that. It is a med error that someone made....maybe it was you maybe not. Good luck :wink2: