Please share your embarrassing stories!

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2006

I always wind up having to go back in to the room and unroll the clamp on the piggyback tubing. I can't tell you the times I've gone back to check the patient an hour later and see a full bag of antibiotics. D'oh!:smackingf That's why I go back and check in a few minutes or wait to make sure I can see it drip in the chamber before I leave the room.

nurse-ry · Jul 24, 2006

i know every nurse has their embarrassing moments..i believe it's natural. u have to remember that all of us were "stupids" at first--we don't learn things in a snap..thanks to such circumstances that happened to me because through them, that's where I learned!

youngatheart · Jul 24, 2006

I forget to clamp the IV tubing when first spiking the IV bag. It just runs through the tubing. I then have alot of air in tubing because it went so fast down. OOPs 3 times in a row I did this.

rn-n- 2005 · Jul 25, 2006

I work nightshift and we do all the blood draws for the morning labs. I work Oncology (Adult) and many of our patients have central lines. Anyway, I had drawn the blood and was flushing my pt's Groshong and I guess I wasn't holding the 10cc flush very tightly and some of it sprayed all over my pt. I was embarassed! :uhoh3: I said," It's just saline!" He giggled. He was a nice man and I think he was still sleepy since it was 5 am!!:zzzzz

I know that I've done more but that's all I can think of now!

bigmona · Jul 25, 2006

I always forget to clamp the line before I prime tubing. I have also gone to change bags of fluid and unspike the old bag while it's still hanging- you get a nice bath when you do that!

FreshRN05 · Jul 26, 2006

ok, this one happened just last week...I had an order to start TPN/lipids on my patient...Our policy is to use two seperate pumps for the TPN and lipd and to use a filter for the TPN...Well, I did all the IV tubing connection and filter together and connected it to the patient's midline IV access...Well, it was going fine at first then few minutes later, the pumps were going crazy beeping and I tell you I spent a lot of time fixing and restarting the infusion but it just wouldn't stop beeping...I was going crazy and finally I called my Charge nurse and asked her to check it for me.....To my embarrassment, my CN told me that I had connected the lipid to the wrong connector that's why the machine kept beeping.....I had accidentally connected the Lipid above the filter (lipid is thick so the filter was having a hard time infusing)....luckily, my CN was so kind and told me that she had the same mistake when she was starting out as an RN....I felt so stupid....but I told myself "hey, that's how you learn"....

SophiaRN · Jul 26, 2006

I went into a new admission's room, introduced myself & explained I would be her nurse at which time, my feet went out from under me!! We (the patient & I) had a good laugh (after realizing I was okay). As long as no one gets hurt, laughter truly is good medicine & we have to be able to laugh at ourselves.

MQ Edna · Jul 27, 2006

I was supposed to give an IV push. I drew up 1 ml, but it was very strange because there were no bubbles at all. I pushed on the plunger to get to the exact amount and medicine came out of the tip. My preceptor also thought it was strange there were no bubbles. She checked it and lightly pressed on the plunger. Again, medicine came out. I said something about how nursing students are perfectionists. She shrugged and said to go ahead and give it over two minutes. I attached it to the IV line and when I started the push, I saw little air bubbles. I pointed it out to my preceptor and she said that sometimes there will be air in the port. I started to get one of those "I did something really stupid" feelings, but I finished the push. I went back and checked the vial and found that was still filled. I guess I had somehow managed to draw up just enough so that it was in the needle, but had not come down into the syringe. I had just given my patient an IV push of air. My preceptor was really nice about it and didn't laugh, just quickly redrew and gave the push herself. I was mortified, but I will never make that mistake again.

MIA-RN1, RN · Jul 27, 2006

During my final semester in school I accidentally squirted an entire saline flush into my patient's lap. i got him a new gown and we had a laugh.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jul 27, 2006

I forgot that Propofol needed vented tubing. I kept having to titrate up the propofol, wondering why my patient is all of a sudden needing so much more sedation. When he sat bolt upright and began trying to extubate himelf all the other nurses came in to help me restrain him. I noticed the walls of the drip chamber on the tubing were sticking together. My preceptor noticed in like a milisecond that I had the wrong tubing, and the pump was trying to suck the meds out of the bottle with no vent! It was a nightmare. Tubing went bad, pump went beserk, pt is thrashing around trying to extubate himself. I'll NEVER make that mistake again. It was my second day as a nurse!:chair:

pendragon1980 · Jul 27, 2006

Just a couple of days ago I had a patient with an NG tube that I had to given liquids meds, including tylenol solution. I drew up the med but noticed there was alot of air in the syringe and I didn't want to put that much air into a very little lady's stomach, so I pushed on it a a little like I would a normal IV syringe.

Well the power of that push not only got air out but it squirted most of the tylenol out as well. Fortunatly, it was facing away from me, the patient and my preceptor.

Hard to explain the tylenol on the ceiling though to the oncoming nurse.

:rotfl: :clown: :rotfl:

Pendragon