yan2006

thanks for the wonderful message! Eva

Hi, I want to explain the situation a bit more. I was at a neurosurgical floor. Most patients I had were not alert, no responsive to command. Do you still explain to them "the medication you are giving, and why?" As well, both of my patients have oral medications through gastrointestinal tubes, so all oral meds have to be crushed and put in cups, plus other meds, heparin, and supository I have to administer. These meds did not have pt's names on them when they are out of patient's med drawer. It became difficult to remember what are the meds, and who these meds are for. Thanks

Thanks to all of you, I just wanna to say that In Canada there is no "e-mar", at least the hospital I was in did not have "e-mar", plus, we don't typically bring patient's med profile to pt's room. So it is pure memory if you can remember pt's name correctly. I learned a great lesson from this, but it is upsetting at the same time. I am learning to forgive myself and others, trying to focus on my exams, and trying to move on. I really appreciate all of your help and suggestions.

Thanks for the reply. I did all the checks. The problem is that I got interrupted on the way to the patient's room. PT came to me to ask me to if I had given patient S narcotics soon, so she can get my patient to do exercise. I told her that my nurse wanted to give the narcotics. By the time I went to patient's room, I gave the meds to S. Although I check the patient's name band, but I did not realize I was supposed to give the meds to S after that incident. I learned next time i have to write down pt's name on the patch or a paper to remind myself of which patient i need to give the meds to. Has anyone written a letter to the progression committee before? The following are the things i thought i could include. But i am having difficulty to write a concise summary, because the thing i wrote is like a story so far. 1. Address the problem/issue 2. Circumstances why you made mistakes 3. Interventions about how to improve 4. Potential for success (student grade) 5. Require permission to take the course again Thanks very much!

i am at my third year of nursing. on my second last day of my clinical, i made a medication error. i gave patient t's nitroglycerin patch to patient s, (they are in the same room). s' systolic bp went down to 60. during the day s also received 2 bags of iv morphine for pain management, the np thought the bp drop maybe due to morphine. i did not realize the error until the next clinical day, i was told by my tutor. the floor nurse educator told my tutor one of the nurse found the nitro patch on s at night, they figured out s' low bp is due to nitro patch. my tutor was really angry at me. she failed me. (my 3 months of hard work!) now i need to repeat the clinical course next term, or maybe i have to repeat the whole year, depend on the progression committee's decision. i don't know how i am able to survive the next two year without the support net work i had with my other nursing friends. i am also scared to make another mistake again. i am scared of nursing now. i am dealing wit pt's life. i am not sure if i am safe. i don't know if i will ever be competent to be a nurse. help!!! how to write a letter to progression committee? thanks

Hi Bigboy, 1st of all, I wish you medication error incident turn out fine for you in the end. On my second last day of my clinical, i made a medication error as well. I gave patient T's nitroglycerin patch to patient S, (They are in the same room).S' systolic BP went down to 60. During the day S also received 2 bags of IV morphine for pain management, the NP thought the BP drop maybe due to Morphine. I did not realize the error until the next clinical day, I was told by my tutor. The floor nurse educator told my tutor one of the nurse found the nitro patch on S at night, they figured out S' low BP is due to Nitro patch. My tutor is really angry at me. She failed me. (My 3 months of hard word!) Now i need to repeat the clinical course next term, or maybe i have to repeat the whole year, depend on the progression committee's decision. I don't know how I am able to surive the next two year without the support net work i had with my other nursing friends. I am also acared to make another mistake again. I am scared of nursing now. I am dealing wit pt's life. I am not sure if i am safe. I don't know if i will ever be competent to be a nurse. Help!!! Eva