rekea526

I'm sorry it wasn't over 3 hrs. I received the medication from pharmacy around 3:55 am and 75ml had gone in by 5am. I remember this because I had to draw a PTT at 5am which is why I noticed the error when i went in the patient's room. So it actually was just about an hour, if that makes a little more sense.

Sorry about the grammar errors. I was typing fast because I have to get to sleep so I can wake up for work tonight. I work 7p-7a.

I made the worst medication error today and feel so horrible about it. I literally wanted to quit the job from sadness and embarrassment. I'm a new nurse and have only been working at the hospital for about 5 months. I've been a nurse for about 10 months. I had a patient on a Lasix drip that was 100ml total volume. 100 mg in 90ml which calculated out to be given 5ml/hr. This may sound confusing but long story short I infused the medication at 100ml/hr instead of 5ml/hr because I was looking at the 100mg in 90ml and I was also looking at the 100 ml total volume instead of paying attention to the 5ml/hr like I should have. I and the charge nurse caught the error but 75ml had already gone in a little over 3 hrs when this medication should have lasted for almost 20 hrs if it was done correctly. We contacted the doctor he said to just monitor him, I filled out an incident report, and we restarted the infusion at the correct dose. I believe I got confused because of all the different numbers on the IV bag and I was also very busy that night. The result of this was critical potassium of 2.1!! we luckily had a potassium protocol to start potassium IV 50ml/hr for 6 bags total and recheck the level. I felt humiliated!! and so embarrassed. I knew everyone had known my mistake because a random nurse came to me and asked me if I was ok. I knew he was asking this because the charge nurse must've told him what happened. I feel so dumb and incompetent as a nurse. I don't know how I will face this at work tomorrow. Not to mention we do this thing called line up at the start of shift where we discuss things that are going on in the hospital and on the unit and we talk about bad mistakes that nurses make throughout the hospital. I'm sure this is bad enough to be talked about during line up. Although they don't say the name of the person who made the mistake I know everyone will know it was me, and of course, I will know it's me they're talking about! What makes it even worse is they read the same scenarios in a line up every day until a new situation happens that they can add to the lineup discussion. I will be so embarrassed every time they talk about this in the lineup. How do I come back from this? I feel like the worse person and nurse ever. I can't even think straight. I still don't know what penalty I will face yet but I'm praying I don't get fired. Lastly, the worst part of this situation is. When it was time to hang the potassium my charge nurse caught me off guard because I was already anxious and nervous and asked me what I would run the potassium at if it was 50ml per hr, just to be sure I would hang the IV correctly. I accidentally said 25ml instead of 50ml because I get so nervous when I'm caught on the spot and asked questions. I'm sure she thinks I'm a complete idiot. I feel like my life is ruined!! IDK what to do. What if nursing just isn't the profession for me after I've worked so hard for it, I'm so distraught!

It took me a while to get my ATT for nclex because I had a minor set back due to some legal things I had to deal with. Now the time has finally come and I got my ATT but now i'm a nervous reck. I've been studying with virtual ATI a program my school advised us to use but for some reason I've been slacking with using ATI and i've been gearing more towards Saunders nclex book and CD 5th edition. I don't know if this is the right thing to do, which is why i'm asking you all. I still don't feel prepared for some reason. Is there anything else I should be using to help me prepare, should I just stick to Saunders or ATI or maybe even both I just need to get more organized with exactly how I should study for these next couple of weeks. I've been studying almost everyday doing a little here and there for about 2 weeks but now that I actually have a set date I want to start studying more and doing more questions. Any advice on how you studied and passed is greatly appreciated, please help. Thank you

Thanks for all the people that responded to this. All I had to do was show proof that everything was paid off and that the case was dismissed. I got some papers faxed over from court to the BON and I wrote a letter explaning to them exactly what happened. I was given my ATT in less then two days. I'm very gratful and relieved that this is over and it didn't take half the time I though it would. Now on to the even harder part preparing for nclex for the next 3 weeks!! Wish me luck

Thank you so much and I'm hoping for the best outsome as well.

(sorry it's so long, please read) I just graduatued from nursing school in may 2012 with my ADN and I just recently paid for my license in kentucky, all my background checks, and I just paid for my nclex. All of my classmates did the same process in paying for everything and as soon as they paid for their nclex they were given their authorization to test. For some reason I was told that i had to wait for the kentucy board of nursing to make me eligible before i could get my authorization to test which is what I need before i can even choose a date to take my test. I was checking the site daily to check my application status and nothing was changing so I decided to call. I was told that my license application is under investigation from a car accident I was in August 2012 in my friends/roommate car. My friend unfortunately didn't have any car insurance which i didn't know. I was only dropping her off at work so she wouldn't have to drive me all the way back home on the other side of town and end up being late for work. Since we live together i was going to take the car home and pick her up when she got off. After dropping her off I got into the accident. My car which I pay insurance on every month was in the shop at the time which is why I was driving her car. I had to pay $200/month in restituion to the lady who car I hit until $1000 was paid . There were a lot of months I missed payments because I was a college student with no job or income and I had to wait until I got my refund check from school to pay off majority of it. I was held in contempt of court when i missed payment but this only happened twice but i only had to go to court once. as soon as I appeared in court and explained why I hadn't made the payments it was dismissed. I paid the restition in full about a month ago but I have 3 charges on my record now according to what I read on my background check results. 1st charge is from the accident itself. 2nd one is from the first time i missed payment and was held in contempt of court and it was dismissed and 3rd from the last time i missed payment right before I payed it off in full I was held in contempt of court a second time but this time instead of it saying dismissed like the 2nd case said it says something about being a fugitive which i don't understand if everything is paid off. Now my license and ability to take nclex is under investigation. This is really pushing me behind in taking my nclex and it's making me nervous because I don't know how long this will take and what the outcome will be. I don't think my situation is as serious as something like a DUI or a assult charge or something so I don't understand why i'm being put through this. My friend who's car I was drivng feels so bad that she didn't have insurance at the time that she said she's willing to take the fall for whatever she can but i'm sure that won't help me at all. The judge even felt bad when she heard what happened and what i had to pay monthly. I just feel so helpless because i'm in this situation when I faithfully pay insurance on my own car I just unfortunately didn't have it at the time. This is the result of me trying to help a friend out and being unaware of her lack of car insurance. If anybody has any insight on this could you please help me any advice is appreciated. I just want to take my nclex asap so i can start working and starting on my bachelors degree. I never knew this was serious enough to put me under investigation. Please help! Thank you!