For all the harried nursing students out there, I decided to start a thread in which those of us who've made it through and out into the real world of nursing can share some of our oopsies.
This is intended to be light-hearted and fun... and help the students not to freak out so much over the small and not-so-small stuff that befalls them. Most of us make it through.
I have/had two in mind... the first has slipped from my fatigued, near-50 brain at the moment but the second follows:
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I had a patient who was a subacute EtOH withdrawal... had PO benzos ordered... I went in with my nurse to assess the patient who was doing OK at the time. The nurse, with whom I'd worked a number of times, decided to pull a benzo (probably 5 or 10 mg of Valium but I don't recall) and told me to assess him over the next hour or two and then give the med if he was tremulous or tachycardic.
So, I diligently assessed him and tended to my other tasks. He was stable and never needed the med. As we neared the end of our shift, I went to retrieve the med from my pocket and return it.
Imagine my horror when I found it missing. I emptied every pocket, over and over, as a panic began to set in. Finally, I approached the nurse and confessed my sin. She just looked at me and said, "Don't tell me that" and walked away.
I began to retrace my steps in a feverish but fruitless search for the missing pill, my horror and self-recriminations amplifying with every step. As I wandered hopelessly and repeatedly through room after room, one of my classmates said, "Hey, what's the matter?" I told her. She stood there for a moment, smiled, and said, "Is this it?" as she produced the blister pack with a flourish. "I found it on the floor," she said. I hugged her, snatched it away, and promptly returned it to my relieved nurse (whose perspective I can now completely identify with).
It turns out that it had fallen from my pocket when I had assisted my classmate with ambulating and toileting her patient.
Several lessons to be taken away: (1) Don't hand over controlled meds to students, even mature ones whom you trust, (2) Don't carry controlled meds around in your pocket, and (3) Treat your classmates well... you never know when or how they might bail you out or stab you in the kidney.
