I really feel like nursing should not be for me since I am a failure and a forgetful person. SO I DID A REALLY BIG NO-NO! I think I left my patient records still up. What happened was, I went to a computer to fill out paperwork on my patient for my nursing class. I swore I clicked on LOG OUT. This hallway computer keyboard unfolds, will turn on and off when it is unfolded from the wall. Anyways, when I came back from lunch, the computer was folded so the computer was turned off. However, when I logged back on, I see that a ConnectCare tab (our patient record database), is minimized. It turned out to be my patient's and was logged in under my name!! I quickly logged out of it and did not say a word. During the rest of the clinical, my nurse or nursing instructor did not inform me of anything pertaining to the patient record. However, I am terrified of what is going to happen. I feel like I always screw up somehow in clinical, and this one is very serious. I need some opinions.
Yes. Your best policy is to 'fess up as soon as you realize you made any sort of error. The worst thing you can do is start a career of trying to cover your tracks.
While I agree that starting a career based on lies is a terrible idea, I don't think this incident requires OP to make a full blown confession. This is a teachable moment. OP knows his/her error, his/her instructor didn't bring it up, so why bring it up?
This, in the grand scheme of things, is nothing at all. Learn from it, breathe, and move on. You say "so many things are going wrong" so I feel like this was more of a last straw. Evaluate what else is happening and make a plan. Nursing is the pits at first. You'll get there
Neo Soldier, BSN, RN
416 Posts
While I agree that starting a career based on lies is a terrible idea, I don't think this incident requires OP to make a full blown confession. This is a teachable moment. OP knows his/her error, his/her instructor didn't bring it up, so why bring it up?
My advice: move on and learn from this.