New RN, how to save face

[ERN19]

I’m a new grad, 6 months in CCU so far. Last night I did something so stupid I feel like I want to crawl in a hole and not come out to face anyone at work for months. We just did shift change and I was in assessing my vented patient. He was completely stable, good pressure and pulse. Family was minutes away to sign the papers to switched to palliative care. I realized his pupils were pinpoint and nonreactive. I checked them several times then decided I should let the doctor know before family arrived. In comes the resident and 2 interns. I began to say to them I just wanted to let you know his pupils are no relative and he is Not responsive to painful stimuli. And then I say “so do you want to call it?” I didn’t even realize I said it until the intern listened to his heart and said he had a pulse. Then I kinda felt this weird out of body experience like did I really just say that out loud. We all left the room and a few minutes later I stepped back into the residents office and said something like I want to addend the earlier comment, I don’t know what I was saying, I knew he had a pulse and didn’t mean to say that. But I cannot shake the feeling of being a complete idiot. I’m afraid they will tell other doctors and nurses and everyone will think I am as incompetent as I feel. Any advice on what to do?

[marienm, RN, CCRN]

And, OP, since you're worried that you embarrassed yourself in front of the residents: Remember, they were brand new one July 1st not long ago.

Just the other day I had to talk the critical care resident through all the orders needed for a new admit. I was nice about it (I think!), and I hope this resident will remember "the nurses on that floor are so helpful" not "they had to talk me through every last thing & I'm mortified!" When you're still new, it's hard to remember that others might be (or have been) on the same boat.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

On 7/19/2019 at 12:25 PM, ERN19 said:

I’m a new grad, 6 months in CCU so far. Last night I did something so stupid I feel like I want to crawl in a hole and not come out to face anyone at work for months. We just did shift change and I was in assessing my vented patient. He was completely stable, good pressure and pulse. Family was minutes away to sign the papers to switched to palliative care. I realized his pupils were pinpoint and nonreactive. I checked them several times then decided I should let the doctor know before family arrived. In comes the resident and 2 interns. I began to say to them I just wanted to let you know his pupils are no relative and he is Not responsive to painful stimuli. And then I say “so do you want to call it?” I didn’t even realize I said it until the intern listened to his heart and said he had a pulse. Then I kinda felt this weird out of body experience like did I really just say that out loud. We all left the room and a few minutes later I stepped back into the residents office and said something like I want to addend the earlier comment, I don’t know what I was saying, I knew he had a pulse and didn’t mean to say that. But I cannot shake the feeling of being a complete idiot. I’m afraid they will tell other doctors and nurses and everyone will think I am as incompetent as I feel. Any advice on what to do?

There are numerous threads on here about bone-headed moves. We've all pulled them. We've all had those distinctly stupid moments that make us want to cringe every time we remember them. We've all made completely idiotic statements and pulled absolutely moronic moves. There's an active thread about that right now.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a *complete* idiot. But I have done some truly moronic things. I used to work in a telemetry unit (my first job) where the house staff was divided up into the Red Team and the Blue Team. I had a patient going bad, and the new resident walked into the nurse's station. I wanted to know which team he was on -- could I ask him for orders or would I have to page someone. What I SAID was, "What color are you?"

The guy looked affronted, and then said, stiffly, "I'm Black."

OMG! I kinda hadn't really noticed -- I was looking at the white coat. In my efforts to backpedal, the smartest thing I could come up with to say was, "I can see that. But are you red or blue?"

Fortunately, he saw the humor in my embarrassment, but he never let me forget it.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

On 7/19/2019 at 2:26 PM, ERN19 said:

Thank you for saying that. Of all things to know I should know when the patient is dead (I’m just sick about it).

If you work in CCU, you'll run into this one day. A patient with a balloon pump will have a pulsitile pressure of 42/0, as long as the IABP is triggering. A patient with a pacemaker will trigger the balloon pump, and a patient on a ventilator with a set rate will breathe. Interns, residents -- and even a few attendings do not necessarily recognize when a patient has expired as long as the ventilator keeps pumping in air, the pacemaker keeps spiking and the balloon pump keeps triggering. If they can't tell when a patient has died, don't kick yourself for not knowing when the patient is dead. You DID know -- you just opened your mouth and the wrong thing came out.

[NurseBlaq]

You're still learning We've all had those moments. I've been a nurse a long time and I still have them. The key is to learn from your mistakes so you don't make them again.

[rn&run]

I was having a health-coaching session with a diabetic patient over the phone and asked how he felt about walking as a form of exercise.

Patient was a bilateral above-knee amputee.

We all say dumb stuff. Welcome to the club!

[Bearcat-RN]

5 hours ago, Ruby Vee said:

I’m a new grad, 6 months in CCU so far. Last night I did something so stupid I feel like I want to crawl in a hole and not come out to face anyone at work for months.

When I read this to begin, I was expecting so much worse. Like others have said, I'm sure you are thinking about this way more than anyone else ?

[FinallyNP]

We’ve all said stupid things before. I thought sarcoidosis was a made up disease on house since the throw it around so much. I work ICU, I was giving report to the intensivist and he goes “maybe it’s sarcoidosis”. I bust out laughing. He was like “what’s so funny?” I was like “oh ur serious... I thought that was a made up disease off of house?” he looked at me like I was nuts but I had to be honest. I was like “what?! You never had a slow moment before? Don’t judge me doc!” And we still laugh about that moment now. We all have these moments, I just laugh at myself though because i can’t possibly know everything. What do i look Ike? WebMD Over here?? I say all that to say, don’t be so hard on yourself. I have so many embarrassing moments in that ICU I should write a book lmao

good luck! You got this!

[Crash_Cart]

Doc: "Let's get a Brevindex and wait for the hCG results to come back before sending her over to X-ray okay?"

Nurse: "Um doc... the pt. is actually a guy."

[Monkey Nurse, ASN, RN]

Hell Ive done the damndest things and some of mine ended up with an on call ob dr running in only to role his eyes and be grumpy because he is awake for... nothing.

Spraying an unclamped antibiotic onto a sleeping patient in the middle of the night... never happened.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

On 7/20/2019 at 5:50 AM, Nurse Beth said:

VivaLasVeiejas . I'm still laughing!! Can I put this in my new book?

Of course. And there's more where that came from. LOL.

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

9 hours ago, VivaLasViejas said:

Of course. And there's more where that came from. LOL.

Yay!! Thank you

[jinct]

Every nurse has done or said something dumb. I wouldn't worry much about it. Fact is, those same doctors have probably felt just like you do at some point. All I can suggest is that when, inevitably, a young nurse in the future makes his or her own blunder, you remember this moment and do your best to help them through it. Best to you.