DoodabuzzRN

thank you all so much for the words of encouragement! i feel much better about what happened and i talked to a couple of friends that assured me the resident was fine on 2nd shift and was up to her normal antics. yes, i was working ltc and was very overwhelmed! 40 residents to 1 rn and 4 cena's. where i worked, they didn't wake people up for meds so i couldnt just go down the line. i had a med pass at ur (upon rising) so i had to watch people as they came down the hall to the dining room and catch them as they passed then move on to those that ate in their room. this meant a ton of remembering names and room numbers. the insulin is not double checked because its ltc and most residents get a routine dose of 70/30, levemir, or lantus plus are on a sliding scale for regular. all the insulin for all the residents is kept in one drawer. i am not excusing what happened, but its easier for me to see how this happened and not blame it on sheer stupidity or negligence. i didn't want to work ltc but it seems the only place that hires new grads (adn) is ltc at this point. i have a bunch of aps in for hospitals and acute rehab facilities and am hoping to get into one of them. again, thank you all so much! hearing it from other nurses is really awesome! my husband said the same things you have said, but hes a mechanic....what does he know about nursing? :thankya: you are all amazing!

I have been an RN for a little less than 2 months and I was terminated from my first job today and I havent been able to stop crying since 8am. I made the worst mistake ever and could have killed someone. I gave a resident 66 units of Regular insulin and she was supposed to receive 66 units of 70/30. Not only did I draw up the wrong insulin, I administered it. Her BGL was 134 before the dose and I almost passed out when I realized what I had done. I had her stay with me and gave her applesauce, apple juice and pudding by the time the CCC showed up and took my head off (which I totally deserved). When I left at 9:30 she was ok and had had no ill effects from the mistake. She was eating breakfast and denied feeling bad at all. However, I am having a hard time forgiving myself. I am an emotional disaster and I am so scared that I wont be able to find another job. I only worked there for 4 weeks so Im not even putting them on my resume, but I am seriously freaking out. I feel like I may never recover from this. And its not because I lost my job, I deserved that; but because I made a mistake that could have been fatal and now Im second guessing everything I know about myself and my abilities and desire to be a nurse.