FLA-RN

Wow, Thanks everyone for all the great advice. First, I did talk to my manager. She was great! She told me to first stop worrying about it and mistakes do happen and from this we learn. She had not even heard about what happen yet. I don't think anyone had reported it yet (or was planning too) At our facility MD's have 48 hours to sign orders!! I guess because of the weekend? I never really thought anything of it until now! When I'm back at work though I am curious to see if an MD did sign off on the order I put in the wrong chart. bigbub3000--The person that was suppose to get the abx was being discharged the next day. I would imagine the doctor came in a continued a prescription for them. Also, it's not uncommon at all for us to recieve a patient during shift change (crazy, huh?) Usually we have 5 patients. I could have 3-4 discharges and depending on the timing I could get 1 admission about lunch time and 2 admissions at or close to shift change. I know that charge nurse tries to stagger patients out but it usually doesn't work out. Usually, I will get these patients at admission is because I think the previous unit or ED does not want to give report off again or get a new patient so close to the end of the day which is how we get overloaded. I definetely agree there should be a policy or something where you cannot get a patient 30 min before or after shift change so those patients can get the attention they need. Everyday I go in and decide what I can do to be a better nurse. I think this is just one of those things that I will definetely be more conscious of. Also, when I do read back orders I always read back the drug, etc. We are switching over to computer charting/orders and still have papers charts too. So I had the right patient on the screen but not the chart! Unfortunatly this slipped through a lot of holes. I catch mistakes all the time too. I wonder how many really do never get caught??

Thanks for the support everyone. I'm still waiting for my NM to call me back. Everyone sure is right though. I made a mistake and I'll learn from it. There's a lot of "caddy" nurses on my unit who like to pick and point mistakes of other nurses whether they are new or seasoned. It's amazing to see the lack of team work and division between the night nurses/day nurses/weekend nurses/nursing aides who are always quick to blame others. I'm sure there will be certain nurses talking about my mistake oow but I'll have no problem admitting it and hopefully helping to make sure it doesn't happen to others.

I'm waiting for a call back from my manager. I'll let everyone know what happens...... I have definetely learned from my mistake. I know several people on my unit have given the wrong medications to a patient and they still have there jobs or given medications on the wrong day and it is kind of shrugged off as a live and learn type thing. I guess this is kind of the same thing.

HeatwaveRN, I can't really tell you either what happened. I'm suprised it was missed for more then 1 day also and why either doctor for either pt didn't notice that they were getting it and not getting it. They both were not on antibiotics. However, I am never taking a telephone order during shift change again as there is usually too much going on at that time!!

Thanks for your comment. My manager has been off of work that's why she probably doesn't know yet. I'm really trying hard not to beat myself up over this. I'm driving my husband nuts! I guess what also bothers me is that the chart checks. double signing, and doctors signing orders that are meant to catch these kinds of mistakes all got missed because of the timing. Worst feeling ever.....

I actually had a patient in one room going down hill in respiratory distress and another one complaining because I didn't get her pepsi in a timely manner. This actually happens to me all the time. Very frustrating.

Hi Everyone, This is my first time posting here and hope I can get advice. I'm a first year RN in Florida who made a huge mistake. Here's the situation..... During shift change I took an over the phone order from a doctor for a patient. I mentioned the new order to the nurse and moved on. At that time I was giving report to the oncoming nurse and dealing with getting a new patient at that same time from the ED. Well....I ended up writing the order in the wrong chart not even realizing it. I finished report, helped get the new patient settled and then went home. The next week when I came back to work I find out that I had wrote the order in the wrong chart and that patient had been recieving an antibiotic that was intended for another patient. To make matters worse the patient had a rash from it but is OK. So......what really sucks is that if I had been able to check it after it had been transcribed by the secretary I would have caught it but since it was change of shift the on-coming nurse would have never know it was on the wrong patient and she check off on it. I take full responsibilty for what happened--I feel so horrible I can't stand it!! I haven't slept in days and seriously doubting my choice as a nurse. There is sooooo much liability as a nurse. I love being a nurse but on my floor most patients are very sick and need much attention. Are ratio is 5:1 and you get pulled in many directions all day long by patients and familys! Anyways. I'm going to call my manager because I'm not sure if she even knows what happened yet. Any Advice? Will I lose my job? Thanks.