Stupid mistakes!!!!

Nurses New Nurse

Published

I feel so bad today. The past two nights I have worked in the ED and have been so nervous! On Monday night we had a lady to come in with an acute MI. The doctor ordered 50mg of Demerol with 25mg of Phenergan. Of course I always know to dilute Phenergan, but what do you think I did? I gave them both together and didn't dilute it whatsoever. I didn't realize what I had done until after the fact. The patient must have been in so much pain with the MI she didn't feel the Phenergan. Good thing is she's okay now... Boy I feel so STUPID!!!!!

On Tuesday night we had a manic patient who the doctor ordered Haldol and Vistiril for. I drew both up in seperate syringes, and then Dr. decides to only give Vistiril. Do you think that I knew which was which??? Of course not. Had to start all over wasting the Vistiril and Haldol. The doctor just looked at me like I was an incompetent idiot. I feel that way 2. This is not getting any better.

Specializes in aged -adolescent.

One of the grad nurses told me when I was still a student that when you go into the hospital as a new grad you realise that you only know half, if that, of what you need to. You come out of uni feeling you've accomplished a lot and we do but nothing prepares for the responsibility. If you were a loser, you wouldn't still there now would you? Take heart.:heartbeat

Specializes in Cardiology.

From someone who has been a nurse for a long time:

Don't be so hard on yourself--as long as you learn from your mistakes.

It WILL get better, I PROMISE! You are not stupid, just inexperienced (and that's not a crime). As you go along, you will learn to avoid most mistakes. I've been a nurse for over 9 years and I still make mistakes on occasion. I just try to learn from them and not make the same ones over and over.

Hang in there and try not to let others get you down. ;)

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
I do this, but some of the drugs I give in a hurry come in ampules. In that case I just put some tape around the syringe and label it....in a fast pinch I just put the first letter of the drug - like E for Etomidate, or F for Fentanyl.

re: liver transplant, WHOOO HOOO! that is awesome! :balloons: :Melody: :heartbeat

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
.... my ADON threatened me with a fleets..

ha ha ha! she sounds GREAT! You are blessed!

Once after about 10 years of practice I gave the wrong doses of the wrong kind of insulin to two patients (I stupidly drew up both at the same time, labeled the syringes, then failed to check the labels... was against policy to do that!). Fortunately the patients were not hurt by this and the doc ordered appropriate follow-up and did not have me killed. The nurse manager was more than reasonable about it too. Me? oh my gosh - talk about hard on myself... was banging my head on the wall and wanting to quit - so my NM said that was enough "punishment" and that I had learned from my error.

Hang in there - k?

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
... which basically involved a situation that I didn't even know enough about to know that I needed to ask a question (hard to ask questions when you don't know what you don't know)[/Quote]

Yeah, that's the hard part, sigh... there IS a lot to know!

"I'm not a real nurse, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night"..

HILARIOUS!

I'm a new RN and i keep making mistakes. everyday i'm coming home fretting, thinking "i should have done..." or "i forgot to tell someone about..." I did ok in school but even when i was in school i could tell that the way we were being taught would not be the most beneficial to actual practice. I feel like my program brushed off all the practical useful things and we were told "you'll learn that once you get a job" and instead school focussed on books, not actually what to do in situations that come up. now that i have a job, and theoretically should be able to understand and know what to do in simple situations, i feel completely incompetent and feel like i'm making all these stupid mistakes. i just don't know how long i can keep doing this either before i get fired for stupid little mistakes, or before i quit because i can't handle the stress which never leaves, because i come home worrying about the things i should have done. :( this sucks. i wish nursing schools were more like they used to be where you learned more hands on practical knowledge.

Specializes in MICU.

dont worry it all gets better...once you start getting the hang of it im sure youll be looking back saying oh when i was a baby nurse and making light of it....just stick to it try not to get so stressed out that will only make it worse

Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I can't be sure from your posts how long you have been in practice but one thing for sure you have to learn to give yourself a break. Mistakes??- sure, you could have done things a little more efficiently, but you never gave the wrong drug to someone, or to the wrong patient, or caused harm doing something you should have known better. Dilute the phenergan and it will still burn like heck, take time to lable the syringes and they will complain that you are taking too long getting the meds. You get more efficient and deveolp you own "tips & tricks" as you gain experience but I wonder if what you are feeling isn't a symptom of a bigger problem. Are you comfortable in ER at all? It is a very specialized type of care- after 20+ years in nursing I still hate going there. One task after another after another. I never feel I accomplished anything to be proud of when I work there. I you love ER- stick it out- I don't see anything much wrong with your care. If you find you are feeling unsure and ill-at-ease after a few more mos maybe it isn't you, but rather the place that is causing the problem- I'd look around and see if another position- critical care, L&D, nursery, tele, may be a more satisfying match to your skills. The secret to happiness is find a job you love and do it the the best of your ability- not learning to love a job you just tollerate. Nursing has way too many paths to ever feel unhappy in a position for long.

Specializes in CICU.
I did my first foley & this is stupid but I kinda freaked when I had to set it all up, it doesn't come together like the one in the lab supplies we bought. Man I feel like a loser, & most people reading this will think so too.

I don't think you're a looser. As new nurses we are under a lot of pressure to perform in unfamiliar situations. Think how far you have come. You are doing invasive procedures on people who expect you know what you are doing. Pretty soon it will be second nature, but for right now you will continue to be nervous, and yes, you may continue to make mistakes from time to time. Remember these mistakes in the future when you are the experienced nurse and you have a new grad that can use some kind words.

I feel so bad today. The past two nights I have worked in the ED and have been so nervous! On Monday night we had a lady to come in with an acute MI. The doctor ordered 50mg of Demerol with 25mg of Phenergan. Of course I always know to dilute Phenergan, but what do you think I did? I gave them both together and didn't dilute it whatsoever. I didn't realize what I had done until after the fact. The patient must have been in so much pain with the MI she didn't feel the Phenergan. Good thing is she's okay now... Boy I feel so STUPID!!!!!

On Tuesday night we had a manic patient who the doctor ordered Haldol and Vistiril for. I drew both up in seperate syringes, and then Dr. decides to only give Vistiril. Do you think that I knew which was which??? Of course not. Had to start all over wasting the Vistiril and Haldol. The doctor just looked at me like I was an incompetent idiot. I feel that way 2. This is not getting any better.

To avoid this, if I have two IVP meds to give I will use different sized syringes for both if at all possible. Works like a charm.

Well, i've been a nurse for twenty seven years now, so thank God I'm finally perfect and never make mistakes anymore. NOT!!!!! THe other day I screwed up a stress test, and had to tell the patient and the doc, I screwed up and the test would have to be repeated. They both took it better than I would have expected. It never ends. You will always make mistakes. THen you learn from them. Then you will make new ones. and it's all because we are HUMAN. They are introducing the new Alaris smart pumps in our hospital. I highly resent a pump that is smarter than I am. Focus on the GOOD things you do, You do good things right??? Like take good care of your patients, help them with their fear, and their pain, advocate for them when they need it, change their dressings, give them meds, monitor them when they're crashing, etc. etc. etc. etc. Give yourself as much credit for the good stuff, and less beating yourself up for the bad stuff. And in 27 years you 'll be perfect like me. HA!!

My Gosh how I relate to this post!

I am a new nurse (just graduated in May; passed NCLEX in July) & I feel so dumb 99% of the time. I feel like I don't know what to do during certain situations (like when a pt asks me about certain medical procedures/tests or brand new meds that I haven't heard of & forgot to look up before I take the med to the pt:banghead:) & that I just don't have enough time to get everything done during my shift (7a-7p). I'm very fortunate that the floor I'm on now has lots of supportive RNs/LPNs who know that I'm a brand new nurse & they really go out of their way to help me out. I can ask just about any of them anything so I'm very blessed.

I know it's gonna take at least a year before I start to feel comfortable as a nurse....I just try to remember that fact whenever I feel overwhelmed &/or dumb(which is most of the time).

Take care,

Dawn

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