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...
Went to do a BP and set my stethoscope down while I put on the cuff, lost it in the residents sheets! I told her I'd lose my head if it weren't attached to my shoulders, she had a good laugh at my expense. :--)
1. Once after a particularly grueling night I stumbled to my new car in utter exhaustion. I swiped my work badge against the door handle repeatedly. A good friend who was parked next me and to point out that it wasn't my car key.
2. As a new nurse on orientation, I started an IV on a confused and combative patient. We needed labs and I proudly obtained them while half the ER staff was holding him down. I was in such a hurry to dispose of my sharps that I ended up throwing the tubes in the sharp bin as well. I got glares and the silent treatment when I told everyone what happened. They did help hold him down for a second time.
3. I had a very cantankerous patient who I had to start an IV on. He suspiciously asked me if I was any good at starting Ivs and he was only going to give me on shot. His wife and daughter were there as well, equally as cantankerous. I confidently told him that I have successfully started IVs many times. I grabbed my equipment and placed it on his bed. I misjudged how far the rolling stool was to my bottom. I crashed and landed on my back and had the air knocked out of me. Needless to say it didn't invoke much confidence in my abilities.
4. I was irrigating a three way catheter. My preceptor told me not to be afraid of using force when pulling back clots. I vigorously tried my best. As the attending came in to check on my progress the tip of the syringe slipped from the Foley and sprayed urine and clots all over her and I, ruining her white coat. We just stopped and stared at each other. I managed an apology, but I was completely mortified.
5. New to the trauma room at the time I meticulously set up a chest tube and trauma tray and trocar and dressing supplies for the doctor in preparation for a sick trauma coming in by air. Being extremely nervous (and exhausted) I also downed not one but two red bulls before the patient landed. Time came for me to hold the lidocaine so the doc could pull the med out without breaking sterile field. My hand was dancing and shaking all over the place and the trauma surgeon just looked at me like I was crazy. He kept telling me to hold my hand still because he didn't want to stick me. The more he told me to hold still the more I couldn't. We got through it but my manager told me to lay off the red bulls.
6. New grad...just off orientation. Was relieved that I was taking report from my former preceptor. She tells me about patients in beds 1, 2, and 3. I ask her if anybody is in bed 4. She says no...it's empty. So beds 1,2,3 are divided by curtains and bed 4 is an actual room with a door. I assess by three patients and then hurry to room 4 to make sure it's clean since we are getting multiple ambulance patients. I walk in and there is a man who is on clearly rigor mortis. I start to hyperventilate and my vision starts going hazy. Overhead I hear that someone is on the phone for me. I manage to make my way out of the room and go to the phone. It's my preceptor, asking if I went into bed 4. I burst out into tears and am incoherent. She tells me she is so very sorry. She forgot that they moved the body in her section because they had to make room for more patients in the trauma bay. They were just waiting on the coroner and that the trauma nurse (who was a midshift) and who was still there would handle it. Not a great way to start of your first day on your own...thinking that your negligence murdered a patient.
I'm sure there is more...these are just the ones off the top of my head.
djksjdalksjf
87 Posts
Went to do a BP and set my stethoscope down while I put on the cuff, lost it in the residents sheets! I told her I'd lose my head if it weren't attached to my shoulders, she had a good laugh at my expense. :--)