1st med error

I'm confused. The deltoid is a muscle. So, where is there error?

I'm confused. The deltoid is a muscle. So, where is there error?

http://www.reutershealth.com/atoz/html/Dexamethasone.htm

most of the way down the page....this is something i either forgot or never knew......take care to the OP

Looks to be ok, you should avoid the deltoid, but it was still an IM injection. You should not listen to a physician who tells you not to file an incident, either way, you make a decision to file an incident if something unexpected happens or if you give a wrong med, dose or route certainly. You should be able to file incidents without fear of punishment. We need nurses we can trust to disclose errors. I have made real med errors and straightforwardly admitted it. I file the incident, we discuss why it happened and try to improve our processes.

Oh my... I suppose technically this is a med error because it can cause muscle atrophy, but I don't think the nurses I work with would report this as an error. Can one injection of decadron in the deltoid cause muscle atrophy??? Anyone have experience with this???

So that is when I decide to go ahead with an incident report in case a complication does develope. The worse thing that can happen is you don't report an error and then you get found out. Consider how the manager feels a lack of trust if someone covers over an error. Open honesty is what my managers get from me and they can relax knowing I would never cover something up. I have been fired twice. I joke " I have been fired from the best", once a 911 dispatcher wrote a complaint about me. My bosses decided to solve the process problem by firing the RN - so the next time a nurse is in a similar situation he or she may make the same mistake. They were not honest about the firing and told everyone I quit voluntarily. Interesting. So sometimes you have to move on to where management appreciates integrity.

By the way after this minor incident and hearing your response, I would hire you in an instant and know that you care enough to be cautious. You will have learned from this and become more valuable in your experience.

Honestly, I don't really see this as a med error. Yes it should have gone into the glut instead of delt, but I think the odds of this one time injection causing a problem with the muscle are very slim. But if you would be more comfortable alerting the patient, then you should. It doesn't matter where a patient works, you should treat them the same as you would any other patient.

Unless I am just too tired no specifics on site are mentioned in my Davis guide off my iTouch.

Well I guess I am just stupid after all these years but I have always given this drug at that dose in the deltoid muscle and there has never been a problem.