Reporting med errors...

Updated:   Published

So I commited my first med error, I feel horrible and own up to it. I pushed glucagon via IV instead of I'm into a hypoglycemic patient. This error did not result in any adverse reactions to the patient. I reported this incident to my charge nurse and filed an incident report with risk management. As a result of this incident, I've been informed by my nurse mgr that I may be terminated and should know something by this Monday. So, I'm curious, how many of you nurses out there would fess up and report a med error if it meant possibly losing your job?

I think we have to face the reality of a termination if such a thing happens.

It just depends of the company policy for 1st offense. But admitting mistakes is more for the patient than for yourself because detrimental consequences could have happened and thank God this wasn't the case.

Honesty will get you a long way even if it hits you hard but in the long run you can live with yourself.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×

Reporting it could get you fired. Covering it up will lead to charges of false documentation and can actually in the end worst case scenario lead to criminal charges. Heck yeah, I report my med errors.

If they want to fire you, they'll use this as an excuse. If they don't want to fire you, you won't get fired for this.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Yes, I would (and have) reported it.

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Yes...you should always 'fess up...the consequences can be worse if they find out you lied or didn't tell. I find it hard to believe they will fire you, and if they try, I'd get a lawyer and fight that. Have they fired every single nurse, pharmacist and doctor that have made a mistake? Probably not. And there was not an adverse outcome and this was not a sentinel event, which they can punish you for.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg; Telemetry; School Nurse pk-8.

When I've made an error, I've reported it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The only nurses who do not make mistakes are liars.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
wooh said:
If they want to fire you, they'll use this as an excuse. If they don't want to fire you, you won't get fired for this.

It all really boils down to this.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

In today's job market in my city, I would have to think hard on it before reporting. I am just being honest; I can't say whether I would or not. :barf01:

I have never administered glucagon, but would suspect something fishy when it wasn't difficult to push like D50. That's when I would have stopped pushing and read the label I skipped reading it before.

Best of luck today. You certainly don't deserved to be fired over one non-life threatening mistake!

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

I have only been working 3 months now & have yet to make a med error, but it will happen eventually....nobody's perfect! Choosing not to report it has not really been something I considered, but I can see how it would be easy to do if the error did not cause any harm.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in being a Credible Source.
Time4dilaudidyet said:
So I commited my first med error, I feel horrible and own up to it. I pushed glucagon via IV instead of I'm into a hypoglycemic patient. This error did not result in any adverse reactions to the patient. I reported this incident to my charge nurse and filed an incident report with risk management. As a result of this incident, I've been informed by my nurse mgr that I may be terminated and should know something by this Monday. So, I'm curious, how many of you nurses out there would fess up and report a med error if it meant possibly losing your job?

If it meant possibly losing my job and there was nothing to be done about it (antidote, for example), I'd probably keep my mouth shut... I don't know, though. I have reported the errors that I've made though never in fear for my job.

That's the problem with punitive attitudes... they don't prevent mistakes, they just prevent honest reporting of same.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute, orthopaedic.

I am not a RN yet, but I am a med tech so I do give medications.

There was a time I gave the wrong person the wrong medication. I checked the wrist band & everything (I work in a jail) and the name was correct. As it turned out, they had the same name, and I did not check birth date. I did not realize the mistake until I made it to the person who was supposed to get the medication, and noticed it was missing. The mix up was only with norvasc, but luckily the person I gave it to was already a little hypertensive and it brought his BP down to a normal level lol, still should not have happened though.

To answer your question, yes I report any mistake that I make, and I have was written up for the mistake I mentioned above. If the person should have an adverse reaction to the medication, it helps to know what it was, what time etc. If it means losing my job, then so be it. Rather have that, than seriously injure someone else because I was too scared to report something

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I don't see one response so far that says, "If you are giving a med for the first time, read the fool label." everyone's saying, "Oh, poor baby, they are being so mean, nobody's perfect, don't beat yourself up, blah blah blah." I am saying, "It's your own fault because you gave a non-emergent medication you weren't familiar with without looking it up."

Now, if there's a system failure here, like the pharmacy sent it to you in a syringe that didn't have all the package labeling on it, your self-report will help them fix that. If maybe there's a better way to treat than giving glucagon for whatever you gave it for, a self-report might help with that too. You probably don't deserve to be fired for this if it's really a first incident. But by heaven you sure as heck do deserve some sort of serious reprimand because you did, in fact, break one of the most important rules you learned your first week in school... Right route. You're merely lucky (as is your patient) that it wasn't more serious.

Yes, I have made errors in my life, and reported them. As my sweet old grandmother used to say,"Some of us are put on this earth to be examples to others." that's risk management. One way or another.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC (LPN-RN).

I would not report it. I see way more crap going on on my unit and nothing is being done about it. I had to report a nurse who made a narcotic error and told me she would take care of it on Monday. This type of practice is not allowed. I also had to report a nurse who was found giving 10pm meds at 6pm. On top of that this nurse does little to no nursing notes, does not complete any of the protocol sheets on teh unit and he is still there. The institution I work at has gone down. So no, I would not report it. As a friend of mine says 'when you continue to show no repercussions to people who do wrong, those who do right will no longer do right.'

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion