RNurse2019

Okay, so I just started a nurse extern program last week and I have been in the ER. I haven't been allowed to do much except observe and this is my first time working in critical care (unless you want to count the 6 hrs of clinical time I spent in the ER last semester which I don't). I wanted to learn more this week so I could be more hands on so a really nice tech showed me how to use the EGG machine. But the nurses I was paired with to observe ignored me, pretended I didn't exist, and ran off without me the entire 12 hrs but that's a different story ?. Anyways I did something really stupid when we were working up a code stroke patient. I accidental put the blood pressure cuff on upside down. The tech called me out on it in front of everyone and I felt so super dumb. I've put a blood pressure cuff on a million times but the stress must have gotten to me... That's not the first mistake I've ever made either! I was an aid for two years before this externship and I made plenty of mistakes doing that too like not reporting a really low BP once because I still didn't understand what a bad BP looked like and forgetting to put oxygen back on someone when they came back from dinner. I owned up to my mistakes and fixed it and apologized but I thought my days of making stupid mistakes were over! ? Advice please!! Any nurses out there have any tips on dealing with mistakes?!

I once accidently left a patient sitting up in their room after taking them back from the cafeteria without hooking them back up to the wall oxygen and taking off them off the portable. Luckily respiratory caught it, but it had been at least an hour. I felt so horrible. Family had come in like they did everyday and didn't catch it either, but it made me feel horrible when respiratory came up and told me what happened. I'm glad somebody caught my mistake. Moral of the story: Don't get so involved multi tasking trying to take care of all your patients that you skip the details and neglect the patient that you're taking care of in the moment. Don't just go through the motions! Always watch what you're doing, even if the unit is on fire. Lesson learned.