Tell on yourself, if you dare...

[audreysmagic]

What's the goofiest mistake you've made on the job? No, I don't mean the med errors or the medical mistakes you learned from. Those are important and often terrible experiences, of course, but this isn't about danger to patients or trauma.

I just really want to talk about the silly things we ALL do and can have the good grace to laugh about. It seems I find so many great stories in the nursing community because we often are under such stress, that we're so focused on those important details and avoiding the critical mistakes...so our brain tends to reserve less power on the things that don't matter as much.

Here's my confession. (And if any of my coworkers are on this forum, I'm outing myself gloriously, because we ALL had a good laugh over it...) My adolescent psych unit is in a small, private hospital, so though EMR has been promised to us, it's not quite here yet. A frustration of mine, to be sure...but that's another story. The kiddos were being super impulsive and just SO MUCH limit-testing going on, and I'm trying to get meds passed and RN assessments done and also manage patients and such. My awesome techs are working their butts off. The usual. One of my team asks if I can bring him "four soaps." That's a bit excessive, I think, but I also know, hey, sometimes teenagers want A LOT of body wash and our trial size containers aren't that big. Or maybe he's distributing them for hygiene time or something.

THIS IS WHERE I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE QUESTIONED SOMETHING.

Cheerfully, I grab four of the small body wash vials, and bring them to him, and he's like..."what?" Because he meant four SOAPs, as in SOAP notes, which we do on each patient q shift...and he was asking me to bring him the charts...

[WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN]

As a student,I was raising the electrical bed to waist height, so that I could change the bed sheets. The telescopic IV pole was in the low position, not in use for that patient. The IV pole sheared the O2 flow meter off the wall! Lots of noise and commotion to my dismay.

I've done that or versions of that.

[Flightless Bird]

At one of my clinicals on a medsurg floor I was in the room with a patient and my professor getting ready to draw up morphine from a tubex. My professor was chatting with the patient and his wife as we made it to the computer. I scanned and did all my "rights" and began to insert the needle once my professor checked I did everything correct. Before she could blurt out "don't inject air!" I pushed the plunger and injected 1 ml of air into the vial. It was enough air to push out the metal cap on the other end but keep the plunger in tact and the medicine from spilling all over the place. The cap shot out with a loud bang across the room and the wife (who had an incredible sense of humor) yelled out mazel tov and clapped her hands laughing. I was so embarrassed but thankful everyone was so understanding and in a good mood that day.

[WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN]

That reminds me: when I start ivs I gently twist the cap of the loop so that I can deftly flick it off one handed so I can attach it to the hub without making a mess. One time I did it too swiftly and the blue plastic flew into the cleavage of the patient's visitor. I was mortified, but she laughed, gave A Pat Benatar shimmy, and said, " Do it again!"

[ReadyToListen, CNA, EMT-B]

Apparently your screens don't test for normal saline, which is very much a drug according to the most pompous of regulatory bodies.

AMEN!!!!

[caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN]

Since I received a PM regarding this, I feel I should clarify:

Our lab (associated w/a major hospital system) won't even test the sample for c. diff if it's formed. We get an automated rejection that says something like this: "The sample provided was not compatible with testing for C. diff. Therefore, the sample has been disposed of." The nurses in our facility know this, so it's kind of a "duh" moment when somebody sends out a fully formed stool for a c. diff sample. It's even more of a "duh" moment for me when I have to put this lab slip in the provider's box for review...

[T-Bird78]

Similar to your mistake, when someone asked me for a staple remover one time, I almost gave them a remove-from-stapled-papers staple remover from the nurse's station desk.

A coworker actually DID that. She wasn't thinking surgical staples, so she grabbed the staple remover off her desk and gave it to the doctor and left the room. He came out, grabbed the right one, and told her what she did, all while trying not to laugh. Every now and then I'll set both staple removers out just to mess with that doctor!

[MelissaLPN2RN]

I was a new LPN, and it was my first day at a minor surgery clinic. We were getting ready to do a cyst removal. I was training, so during the procedure I observed silently, barely breathing, and didn't move a muscle (to stay out of the way.) I started to feel dizzy as soon as the doctor was milking the cyst, and the old pus/tissue shot straight up onto his overhead light. I quietly said i'll be right back, and slid out the door. I walked down the hall while holding the wall, and my vision started to fade, and go black. I felt myself passing out, and knocking things over trying to get to my chair. The lab tech was walking by, and said "oh, you guys are done already?" I was able to muster, "I....don't....feel," and then just fell forward. It was so scary to me at the time, as I've never passed out before, and I couldn't get in control of my body. They called a code on me, and I was completely fine, but I was SO embarrassed, and still worked the rest of the day! I still laugh when I think about it.

[MelissaLPN2RN]

While restocking the patient bathrooms (urine specimen cups, and wipes for clean catch,) I saw what appeared to be a straw on the back of the toilet. Without thinking, I grabbed the straw, and tossed it into the garbage. I noticed my fingers were wet, and as I turned out of the door, a patient stopped in front of me, and asked me if I had seen a reusable catheter in the bathroom. I quickly realized the "straw" was her straight cath, and now I had pee on my fingers! I was so mortified, I said no, I didn't see it, and went straight to the sink!

[GaleSRN, BSN, RN]

I was a very young nurse. I was working on the ortho floor full of young skiers with broken limbs (Idaho). I walked into one room and the young man was doing something under the sheets, rhythmic motion. I, stupidly, asked him what he was doing. He looks up at me and says, "I am winding my watch". I made a quick retreat.

On my 3rd day of nursing school I dumped an entire pitcher of ice water on a patient. Fortunately he was a nice guy.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

I once and only once injected air into a mucomyst vial. I changed scrubs but nobody wanted to sit next to me for the rest if the night.

One night I was running up the stairs responding to a code with the rest of the code team behind me when my tied scrub pants became untied. Yup, there went my pants.

[StrwbryblndRN]

I worked med-surg and was a nurse for about 3 years. I had to give about 10-15 pills to someone. Not sure of the amount but it did take awhile to scan, verify and open them up. Unfortunately my allergies were acting up and I was sneezing every few minutes. (mask on). Well my patient had parkinsons and had a profound tremor. Well between my sneezes and her tremor, I sneezed right when I was handing them to her and her tremor helped it along. The meds flew across the room and hit the wall and scattered all over the floor. With my sneezing fits I crawled on the floor trying to find all the meds.

I repeated the process of obtaining her meds and finished without a problem. I kept the issue to myself. I did not have the energy to laugh that night.

[StrwbryblndRN]

This is not patient care but it made my work night rough. I forgot to put deodorant on before leaving for work. I keep a roll on in my bag. I proceeded to apply it but did not realize I had grabbed my icy/hot roll on instead. It made me sweat worse than usual and burned for part of my shift. To make matters worse I did this twice in one month.

I do not own roll on deodorant anymore.