New RN 3 Mistakes in first month on Job :(

Published

I posted this already but maybe it was too long. But I had made 3 mistakes within the first month after off orientation. First, failed to exmine pt's buttock. She developed skin condiiton. Second, didn't take lab on time for the pt to do c-xray. Third, given pt two narc doses instead of one without dr.'s order. I am being given a written warning yesterday. DON asked me to promise call her and ADON for help if there isn't anyone there to help. I am so stress right now and it's New Year Eve.

Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.

Only 3?? Way to go!!

Sincerely,

A Fellow New RN

Specializes in Psych, Informatics, Biostatistics.
I posted this already but maybe it was too long. But I had made 3 mistakes within the first month after off orientation. First, failed to exmine pt's buttock. She developed skin condiiton. Second, didn't take lab on time for the pt to do c-xray. Third, given pt two narc doses instead of one without dr.'s order. I am being given a written warning yesterday. DON asked me to promise call her and ADON for help if there isn't anyone there to help. I am so stress right now and it's New Year Eve.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you are stressed out, and that condition does not bode well. Please take a few deep breaths. The DON is reacting to your errors, like she has to. Your errors are not indicative of a bad nurse, maybe a new one, but not a bad one. Please have a nice New Year's Eve and relax if you can. Get your mind off this for awhile, then go back to work and work as hard, and detail orientated as you can. You didn't kill anyone, and probably haven't hurt anyone, and it sounds like you reported the two narc doses yourself. I don't mean for you to take the written warning lightly, but I don't want you to be so nervous, and anxiety pressed, that you make another error.

Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

And I have to ask if you have properly orientated before being turned loose. You might want to examine how ready you felt versus how ready they said you were. Good luck.

Specializes in cardiology/oncology/MICU.

I would like to say Happy New Year to all! I think that it is easy to be hard on yourself for mistakes. Some mistakes warrant a change in the way I practice however. Forgetting part of your assessment (skin) or drawing ordered labs late are important, but with time you will become capable of handling multiple tasks at once. The part about medications being given not once, but twice without the MD orders is quite frankly a bit scary. What if there was an allergic reaction? I say that as a new nurse safe medication administration techniques are taught and should be provided by your facility. It is your job to follow them to the T. Please be careful and know that we ALL make mistakes.

Specializes in ER, Med/Surg, LTC.
I posted this already but maybe it was too long. But I had made 3 mistakes within the first month after off orientation. First, failed to exmine pt's buttock. She developed skin condiiton. Second, didn't take lab on time for the pt to do c-xray. Third, given pt two narc doses instead of one without dr.'s order. I am being given a written warning yesterday. DON asked me to promise call her and ADON for help if there isn't anyone there to help. I am so stress right now and it's New Year Eve.

==============

This sounds a lot like a LTC facility, therefore I would not put too much value on the fact that they have written you up as they seem to write up people for fun, as orientation to them is the fact that you did finish nursing school. However, do value that the care you are providing is Med/Surg experience, and you can take that experience to the hospital. As a new nurse we all need experience, and it really comes down to who is willing to give it to you. May I suggest you visit hospitals in person and speak to someone directly in HR, as their orientation period is usually extensive and you will get a better understanding of what is require of you as a new nurse, then you can go anywhere and be confident in the care you provide.

I know how you feel, as I passed my NCLEX-RN in July and figured that the hospital gig was soon to follow, not the case. After waiting a week and close to 100+ applications later, I went to the nearest nursing home applied and started working 3 days later and 2 days of orientation. After my first day on the floor, I knew that was not the business, and I needed to be in a hospital. I was given a written warning my first week, after I didnt give a bolus feed to someone who could speak, and was taking oral liquids intermittently, and quite honestly found the paper MAR confusing, which no one explained to me and I had to figure it out.

But, I got focused at work, and became relentless in applying and putting myself out there for a hospital job. On my days off, I didnt sit around doing nothing, I would get up like I was going to work and hit the road by 9am. I went to area hospitals, and spoke with an HR recruiter directly. I stated that with the Internet you dont get a feel for who the person is, and I sold myself. To be honest more doors closed than was left opened. I finally met one Recruiter who said, I like your style, I cant promise you anything but I am gonna try and get you in, and 3 months later and to his word, he called me in for a mass interview the hospital was having. I told him you get me in front of a manager, and I will leave with the job, and I did.

Be confident, trust yourself and the teaching you received from nursing school, pull out your Med/Surg book and choose a topic a week and review what you should be doing for your patient. You will be fine, use the written warning as a learning tool and think of it as a positive note. It will make you aware, and know that that incident will never happen again. Always do a mental check list.

Dont beat yourself up, it happens........

Thanks everyone! It helps to see thing in a different perspective. Since I was so stress out this morning after woke up, I went to have my hair done today. I accept nothing I can do at this point except moving on and learn from the mistakes. One thing I have learned so far is that I cannot trust anyone there. They turn me in in a heartbeat if I make any mistakes. They do not care if I am new or not. They see me as a threat rather than teaching me. I am in the process of asking for less working hour and the time I am home I will be utilizing for another job.

Specializes in ER, Med/Surg, LTC.

Thats the spirit, and yes I think it is a requirement to work at a LTC facility, minimal professionalism and very cut throat, even the men are bigger gossips, be very careful and aware of your environment and the people in it.

I had the Supervisor Respiratory Therapist come to me and said, we have never really had a chance to chat, whats your story.......which I very directly responded with, 'my personal life is not up for idle chat, I do not discuss my life outside of work'.......harsh but very necessary, this was after observing him and seeing how he befriends someone, then take it back to upper management.

Be careful, keep it professional, and try and remain pleasant.......you know how they do, before you know it, they will be saying you have an attitude.......this is the part of nursing that I find interesting, when they speak of 'the culture of an environment', it is a challenge to maneuver your way through.

You got this, dont sweat it..........

One thing I have learned so far is that I cannot trust anyone there. They turn me in in a heartbeat if I make any mistakes. They do not care if I am new or not. They see me as a threat rather than teaching me. I am in the process of asking for less working hour and the time I am home I will be utilizing for another job.

i do sympathize with the challenges that a new nurse faces, and it sounds like you are going through the expected 'growing pains' that all newbies inevitably experience.

but please don't automatically assume that anyone that turns you in, is threatened by you, or are out to get you.

there are some nurses who feel it's their duty to report incidents, whereas others are ok with personally talking to you.

it doesn't matter if you're new or experienced - often nurses turn ea other in for the sake of pt care and safety.

and we all makes mistakes - all of us.

right now, your only focus needs to be on managing and prioritizing your time, carefully assessing what needs to be done...one step at a time.

in other words, focus on your own performance and try not to expend any further energy on who is doing what.

if you continue in feeling defensive towards your coworkers, you are essentially burning bridges instead of building them.

even if you feel you are being unfairly mistreated, it remains crucial that you aspire to be the best professional nurse that you can be...with or without coinciding obstacles.

and a part of being a pro, is being a team player, being accountable, and conducting yourself with poise and maturity.

you have enough on your plate right now.

don't add any further burdens by perceiving an attitude/behavior that very well, isn't even there.

wishing you all the best.

you can do this, believe in yourself.

leslie

You both are correct. I am very naive thinking people are nice if they act nice. Not so in this situation. I have to watch my back more carefully. I fully understand it is pt's safety concern, but I can tell you enough there were things nurses who work there do not do. For instance, did not sign off the meds in the Mars as given. I don't know if they have given pts their med or not. If it was not sign means they weren't being given right? Some did not even put lidoderm patch on some pts that I have to remove during my shift. Pts said they did not get one in the AM when in the Mars signed they did. I said nothing because I don't know if that should be something needs to bring up. I just don't know what are the things to do. Who reports to. My supervisor on my shift is nice but I start to think she is the one who always says okay good but it turns out I did not do something right and goes up to the DON. DON said I have to cover my back and always write orders for everything I do even just a small minor treatment a band aide on a pts arm. I didn't know that. No one there ever told me. They didn't teach me the correct way to take order. DON feels I am not getting the experience I need and that they don't do a good job teaching me. As for taking MD's order, last night one of the nurses there showed me how to properly take orders without writing the entire of thing. After she showed me i thought well that would take less of my time if I knew this. I feel lots of information are being held from me. The DON asked which nurses didn't help me. I cannot tell her any individual ones. Majority are not approachable. Only few are accessible and often time they work different shift and days.

Besides the mistakes I made, DON said she impressed with my charting skills. She said that she never seen any brand new nurse chart this well like I did, very thorough and details. So, I feel at least I did something well other than those mistakes that stress me out so greatly.

I did not give medications to pts twice. I only gave her one. She was a new admit who screamed in pain down the hall. It was a bad judgement on my part I know. Pts said she took two in hospital. I told her she can only have one. The angry daughter on the phone and screaming and howling from the room. Supervisor no where to be found, I decided give her a second one 30 minutes later and then told the supervisor what I did. I thought it was safe the supervisor knows. She did not say anything. The next day I got pull into the office with three bosses. I broke into tear in front of them. Now, I know not to take narc lightly. DON stressed it out to me what I did was very serious and I could lose my license over this.

First of all. Take a deep breath, or ten, and move on. Don't dwell on it..nothing you can do about it now.

Being so stressed out is NOT going to improve your performance any...if anything it would only distract you and increase your chances of making another mistake.

Get your self a little note book and start writing down key (extra) things you need to remember to do. Eventually you wont need it..but its an extra safegaurd for your self for now so you do not make anymore mistakes.

Everyday is one day more experience that you have!

Good luck!!

+ Join the Discussion