New RN making mistakes?

[virgo7598]

I'm a new RN. Just graduated in May and started my first job on a med/surg floor in July. I have been off orientation for a little over 3 months and jeez I feel like I'm getting called into the managers office because of a mistake I made all the time. In reality, it was 3 times but still, it feels like a lot.

These mistakes didnt harm the patients but they are still things I missed and I am feeling discouraged and stressed out. For example, one was because I missed a wound on a patient (several nurses missed it), another was because I hadn't documented a PCA correctly.

I could use some encouragement. Did this happen to anyone else when they were a new graduate RN?

[Sour Lemon]

Those sound like common issues, to me. Some places deal with things more formally than others, though.

I've found that PCA documentation hardly ever matches up the way it's supposed to. Some machines are much worse than others. I always make sure to have a witness for whatever happens to be going on with them for that reason.

Make sure you check your patients head to toe. Look between their toes and at the back of their heads, too ...and under their breasts and other "folds" if they're heavy. Do not count on ER or the nurse who worked before you to do your assessment. Make sure you look for yourself.

[Destined4More]

Just graduated in May and started my first job on a med/surg floor in July. I have been off orientation a little over 3 months...

You've been at this job for 4 months? A month/4 weeks orientation? That's definitely not enough especially for a new grad. At my hospital new grads get 12 weeks of orientation.

I agree with Sour Lemon. Just be more careful with assessments and when you're not sure, ask for help.

[Stella_Blue]

Chin up buttercup these are simple and common mistakes that we all have made. We learn from oir mistakes and we move on. I always say that I I always learn from the train wrecks and not the easy patients and I always learn after I have made and error. That is just the way it is. As long as no one is hurt amd you walk away learning from it, then it will be ok.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

As long as the conversations about your mistakes aren't punitive, I would value them. If they didn't point them out, you wouldn't have the opportunity to learn from them.

[RegularNurse]

If you are not sure how to do something, just ask a staff member who truly knows how to do it; not someone who just does it their way (if you know what I mean). Hospitals rely on per diem staff who are not oriented well enough to do their jobs correctly. These mistakes are not a huge deal, but they are a reflection of system failures at the hospital you work at.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Apparently, you did not learn from your question and responses that was posted under another user name.

Feel free to re- read my answer.