Soooo discouraged:( First Med Error

[LuvTheNurse]

I'm soooo discouraged. I came from homecare working as a lpn to a nursing home. I'm working as a floor RN & had my first medication error already. Wrong patient:down: Same first name wrong last name. Idk what I was thinking.. Replaying it back in my mind. I checked the id band. Thank gosh the med wasn't harmful. I feel incompetent now & not sure if I should stay in this profession

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

The important thing is that you recognized it. Everyone does it as we are all human. And for the ones who say they have not they either are not admitting to it or don't know they did. Just learn from the experience.

[shanon0403]

Ugh! I feel your pain! Med errors are stressful, you worry about the patient and your job. You feel like nursing isn't for you, but when I was stressed about mine I was flooded with stories of med errors. Before I made mine I had a gut feeling something wasn't right, but I was bisy, tired, and a little embarrassed to ask. Learn from your mistakes. I learned if I ever get that feeling to take 3 deep breaths, really read everything and get out the drug book. I'm also less afraid to ask because you can know things but forget when you have a million other things on your mind. Relax, slow down, and remember that you are human and will make mistakes.

[HeyNurse2014, ASN, RN]

Biggest pet peeve... interrupts when I'm pulling meds. It's bad enough in the med room but I've also dealt with those dreaded med carts. Being out in the hallway with patients coming up demanding you drop what you're doing to demand a PRN they can't have for another 2 hours then hear them ***** about how they will get you fired for "withholding" pain medication. Sigh... I'm not withholding when it's not even close to the next available dose time.