FLoridarnl

I have no idea who or when it was exactly, so I can only sit and stew about it. Am I a bad person?

You're right. I tend to overreact. I beat myself up over EVERYTHING. It will take time to get over this, b/c of the fact that I didn't think of it at the time it happened. I'm just kicking myself b/c I should have known better. I have a bad habit of doing this. I'm scared of something happening to the pt and scared that it will have repercussions on my career, which is starting to really take off. I just need to kick the fear that something bad is going to happen & go w/ the flow. I'll learn, I just need to get over my phobias.

I'm glad I noticed the mistake, so I could at least inform the doctor.

The doctor's order was clear, I just took out two "20 mg" instead of "10 mg" tabs. I feel bad, b/c even though the dose was still normal, I should have informed the pt's parent, (she was a teenager), and I should have made an official report. I'm a really big rule follower and the fact that at the time I failed to do this (not realizing how wrong it was), kills me. I feel like a bad person. Whenever I think back to things I've done wrong in my life, and can't repair them, it kills me. I didn't get punished for this mistake, and I don't like feeling like I'm getting away w/ things. Am I or ???

Wow, I'm sorry this happened. Med errors are very hard to get over. I've made errors in the past, thank goodness no patients were harmed, but EVERY nurse makes errors in his/her career. Nobody who is human is error free.

I remember an incident from years ago. I had a pt who was acidotic, (pH 7.1 or 7.2) and the ER doctor didn't order Na+ Bicarb. The pt had a pos. TNI, and was to have a kidney stent put in before going to ICU. The admitting MD ordered IVF w/ Na+ Bicarb added, but not at a very fast rate. The patient ended up coding after her procedure, and the ICU RN named me as the cause of death b/c I didn't start the IVF in the ER. I asked an ER MD about this, and he said it was impossible. He said she may have died from too much sedation during her procedure, or other problems. She was very sick and looked mottled before having the procedure. Anyway, risk management questioned me b/c the ICU RN wrote a nasty incident report about me. I wasn't suspended and it wasn't reported on my RN license. Is this death my fault? Or was the ICU nurse just pointing fingers? I feel horrible about the situation still, b/c she said it was my fault. Though, I was never brought up in a law suit or anything like that. Any thoughts??

I think I would call the doctor in this situation, since the patient has no prior history and could be presenting a problem. What happens if the patient codes and the doctor says he had no idea about the V tach? You always have to cover your butt in nursing. Take a full set of vitals and have your ducks in a row when you call, but CALL. He's a doctor, they get paid well enough to be woken up for V tach. You never know what will happen, the human body acts strangely sometimes.

This was at 10p, not 7p. She was well into her shift and was doing her routine meds.

I guess I feel that I shouldn't have to wait for nurses to finishing passing their scheduled meds to all their patients before they even take report. Especially when I've already been in the ER for 12 hours and I was supposed to leave 5 minutes ago. Hell, all I want to do is give report b/c I had the patient all that time. I can't see me telling an ambulance to wait while I pass out all of my medications before I take report. That's sooo rude. And then...to get a nasty attitude from the floor nurse...UGGGHH. If she were in my shoes, she would feel the exact same way. Only, she would be meaner about it.

Does anyone else have a rivalry with the floors in the hospital? It just seems that when the ER sends patients upstairs, they always have a problem with something! They're always looking to write up the ER staff for something, or point fingers. We also have a hard time getting the nurses to take report on out patients. We don't get to stall a patient when they're coming in by ambulance, why do they play this game with us? Is it just my hospital that has this problem?? Sorry, I'm venting, any responders? :angryfire

It sounds as if you're trying to put others down. A lot of times people don't feel compelled to use "SAT" words to sound smart. You may be smart, but others may have things you don't. They may be compassionate, empathetic, caring, or just plain good people. A person doesn't need to be Einstein to be smart. There are street smarts and book smarts. A person should have a little bit of both, otherwise they won't make it in the world. Focus on how you are as a person and as a caregiver, not on how "others are intimidated" by your "intelligence".

I have anxiety disorder, and I always worry that I screwed something up at the expense of my patients, even when I didn't. That is wreaking havoc on my life . It's a struggle, but I think it makes me a better nurse, because I make sure to practice the safest nursing I can, to protect the patients who trust the medical personnel.

Temporary Insanity! LOL. Just kidding.:rotfl:

I used to dream that I didn't give my meds or assess my patients and it was almost the end of my shift. That would be scary. I had a scary dream where a psych patient was killing our case manager, and I couldn't dial the phone to call for help. These are more nightmares than dreams.