scared, frustrated, ready to give up

[eakoeg2]

Medication errors.

They are so easy to do! It is scary how many errors I see, even the simple ones, and scary the errors I have made.

I have recently made a med error and I am about ready to throw in the towel. I gave the medication the wrong route, and in the end the patient was okay.

It is so easy to make errors, and I feel a lot people dont report them because they do not want to get in trouble.

I do the checks on medications, but this one time I missed what route it was. 99% of the time this medicaiton is given IV. It was also ordered for the wrong time which made the error easier to make.

The handful of medication errors I have made, no harm was done.

It really is making me consider giving up on nursing.

I want to help people, not do them harm. How do I move past this? How do I move past the fear of making another med error?

any thoughts? comments? suggestions?

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Most nurses make a med error at some point in their career. I made one myself. I was taking down an order. I wrote for it to be given BID in the MAR, but it was to be QID. The patient was fine, but it was a mistake regardless. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes. You cannot rush med pass.

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

The way things are these days, you're going to get in more trouble if their meal order isn't right or their coffee isn't hot enough than you would for a medication error. Don't sweat it.