amberrenae, RN

Update! I talked with my manager, who went into the patients record and saw that the nurse had put the order in and administered the dose a few minutes after the incident. She thanked me for letting her know and for not giving the med without an order, and said that this nurse is very experienced and knowledgeable but this wasn't the first time something like this had occurred with her. Thanks all for the advice and support, this has definitely been a nerve wracking but valuable learning experience for me.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I did not do an override to pull the morphine, it was still available to the patient in the Accudose from a previous one time order so I didn't realize there wasn't a current order until I got in the room. Because there was no override and the whole thing happened so quickly and right before walking out the door, I wasn't thinking about my name being attached to a drug that may or may not have been given so I appreciate everyone bringing it up and I will definitely be talking to my manager about the whole thing today.

I'm a new RN a little over a month into my orientation on a busy med/surg unit. Tonight at a few minutes before the end of my shift I had finished reporting off and was sitting at the nurses station when a float pool nurse I had never worked with before asked me to push morphine for her patient. She had just started giving report and was trying to avoid overtime. I brought the morphine into the room but wasn't able to scan it because the patient didn't have an order for it in the eMAR. I returned to the nurse and told her the morphine wasn't ordered, and she said she had taken a verbal order and I should enter the order. I said I didn't feel comfortable entering orders I hadn't taken for a patient I didn't know, and she said I could just push the morphine without scanning it and she would enter the orders and document administration when she finished report. I hesitated again, and she snatched the morphine from my hand and stormed off to give it herself. Am I in the wrong here? I don't want to be seen as not being a team player and I'm sure things like this happen, but I also don't want to risk the license I just earned.

Funny, I took my exam at the same time as you and had the same breakdown of questions! My name was on the MN BON registry the next morning so I didn't have to wait too long, thank goodness. Congratulations!!

I got hired at a hospital for my first CNA job, and I've been there for a year and a half now and just got hired as an RN on the same floor after graduation in December. I do think being in a nursing program was helpful in getting hired there, but I also know people who aren't in a program that were hired for their first CNA job as well. Having no prior experience definitely made orientation a little tougher but I have never regretted it and I love my job.