4th day and I made a MAJOR mistake, what would you do?

[edisonnurse]

Well today was my 4th day and I made my first big mistake. Here's the story...

We have a book with the names of the people who are allowed to talk to the patients on the phone. The people in the book must know the password before we can confirm that the patient is even in our unit..well my understanding was that the book was a list of people who we were able to give information to....anyway

I was in a meeting with a family and grandma, mom, and aunt were present. As soon as the meeting was over I got a call...the woman on the phone said this " hi this is so and so's grandma and the password is blah, blah" I said, "Oh, hi this is your grandson's nurse. I looked in the book and she was in there, so I proceeded to tell her what happened as soon as I returned from the meeting. So I went on this big spill about this and that trying to reassure her that he was fine...then she said "OH NO, I'm not the grandma that was in the meeting, I'm his other grandma!!!!!!!!!!. So first, I find out it wasn't the same grandma, and then second I find out I wasn't supposed to tell grandma anything. I misunderstood the meaning of the book and the whole password system. I'm so scared that mom is going to find out that I gave the grandma information that maybe she didn't want her to know. I immediately called mom and told her that I spoke to grandma and gave her some information, but didn't go into detail...

I really didn't know what to do in that situation...I made a big mistake, and I'm terrified that I will be in major trouble tomorrow....For you nurses who have been doing this for a while, how would you have handled that situation??? What consequences could I face because of that mistake?????AARRGGHH this is just so new, and trying to remember everything when there are 1000 things going on around me is absolutely overwhelming!!!!! I hope it will get easier over time...Thanks

[azor]

The did has been done.Telling the mother is a good thing on your path.For me,i'll tell you not to panic but be careful the next time.i dont really know the consequences but i dont think its going to be that bad knowing that you are pretty much new to the whole system.Relax and be creful next time in divulging pts info thru phone.