Curlup

to Weary LPN, First and foremost I want you to know that I never put blame on the other nurse. I take full responsibility for my error. I called the doctor as soon as I realized my mistake and followed all the proper channels to correct this error.the order was very clear on the e-mar. the mistake occured because I was in a hurry and grabbed the wrong insulin pen. I am back to work and have gotten alot of support from my co-workers. I now am very careful to do all my checks before giving any medications. I really appreciate the feedback and the support from everyone. I have vowed to make sure this will not happen again to me or any other nurse.

I have been a RN for a little over 2 years.I was working on an inpt. Rehab unit for 15months when the Hospital i worked for had a Layoff. Ihave been laid off for 4months when I was called in to work a midnight shift. At the end of my shift I was in a hurry to leave and I made a serious med error. MY patient was to have 26 units of lantus insulin form an insulin pen and I was in a hurry and grabbed the Novolog flexpen instead. Idid have another RN double check the order and dosage on the e-mar but i must have had my hand over the name and we both did not check the name of the med. I have given this med many times and have always done my checks and had it confirmed by another Rn with no problems. I have no excuse for this.I had to call the MD and nursing supervisor and report the error. appoligise to the PT. and his spouse fill out incident reports. Md gave new orders which we implimented. the pt. was very angry but was had no adverse reactions and was evetually able to go home. How do I get over this? I am supposed to work today for another nurse and I am sick about going and have lost all confidence in my nursing abilities.

I made an serious med error recently and I am having a hard time getting over it. I have been an RN for 2 years and was recently laid off of my job. I was called in to work a midnight shift and at the end of my shift I was in a hurry to go home. My pt. was supposed to give 26units of lantus insulin and I gave regular insulin instead. the terrible thing is that I had another nurse verify the order and she just checked the dosage and order on the MAR and not the name on the insulin pen as I had my hand over the name not realizing this at the time. I don't know how I could have done this as I have given these two meds before many times without a problem. Needless to say I had to call the MD and nursing supervisor, also appoligize to the pt. and spouse. Got new orders from MD, have an IV put in and monitor VS and BS hrly. I had agreed to work for another nurse on this unit today on afternoons before this happened and now I am afraid to even go to work. I need advice please!!!!!