4th semester nursing student and feeling doubtful

[ns808]

I started my preceptorship last week on the CICU unit night shift. My nurse and I went to pass meds and she was setting most of the IVs in the pumps and told me if I wanted to hang the Zosyn. I primed it hung it but didn't run it thinking she would do that. We left the room 6hrs later she realized the Zosyn wasn't running because it was still clamped. My patient was getting it for sepsis. I felt devastated and awful and now I am more fearful than ever. She hasn't told anyone about this and said not to worry and that I learned something from it and to be more careful. I am always careful to the point where nurses have told me before that I am too slow at med passes. Idk why I forgot to ask her if she wants me to run it or leave it for her to do that. Failure in communication caused a med error and a serious one at that in my opinion. I had never made a med error in school and I'm sad that it had to happen during my last semester preceptorship. Now I am doubting my abilities and feel extremely fearful. I can't seem to get over this and feel so awful. What if nursing isn't for me and I harm someone when I start working? How do I bounce back from something like this?

[GBRKG122]

Hi NS808,

I graduated with my BSN in May 2016 & was completing my preceptorship this time last year. I (and many other now RNs & fellow nursing students) have been in your shoes. I was a nervous wreck the entire time, especially administering medications & even more so with IVs. You show enormous accountability & responsibility. Plus, part of the nursing process is for your preceptor to catch things like this; these are the teachable moments. I cannot tell you how many times I didn't hit the "start" button, didn't reclamp tubing, or spilled the IV solution all over the patient & the floor... The list goes on & on... All nurses make mistakes. The fact that you take this so seriously, wish it didn't happen, never want to do it again, want to learn, care about your patients, listen to the feedback from your instructor... You. are. doing. everything. right. You are going to be an incredible nurse; please please hang in there :) :) :) Infinitely easier said than done, but you can do this. Take it one day at a time.

Your discussion post is very honest, reflective, & clearly demonstrates how much you care :) My biggest piece of advice would be to be EXTRA nice to yourself :) Nursing school is challenging & the learning curve is steep. You are in school to learn; when else in your life have you needed to strive for *perfection* in providing healthcare delivery? Or needed to keep a million different things in mind while administering medications? How many times prior to nursing school have you needed to not only learn how to successfully manipulate & start an IV, but do so while being observed, judged, & critiqued. If you are anything like myself, this whole learning process to become a nurse IS HARD. With the right reframing, nursing is exciting hard work, but for me... being so hard on myself... the clinical experiences can feel overwhelming (even impossible) now as a new graduate RN.

Try your best to move on quickly & healthily as possible from this one client interaction. I'm not minimizing the significance of safely administering medications; we can all agree that as nurses we want to do everything correctly. Feel better, feel free to send me a personal message. Being able to talk about these things with others who can validate what you are going through & empathize with how you're feeling is essential. Sometimes even the most well-intentioned advice from others can come out wrong so... please know that you only have support, cheerleading, no judgments, & faith from me in you :) I have been in your shoes; this is hard.

YOU CAN DO THIS!

[msnprospective]

Hi, NS808. I can appreciate how you are feeling because I'm sure I would feel the same way. The fact that you are feeling this way is likely another good reason that your compassion and motivation are in the right place. Don't throw in the towel. You've worked very hard to get where you are and it sounds like your heart is in it.

1) Have you followed up on the patient's status? I hope he/she is ok and you will feel better about that.

2) I will just be entering nursing school, but my guess is that your preceptor should have been more methodical in checking things before he/she left the room.

3) It's a lesson. You are a student. I'll bet you're more conscientious because of it and will ask questions when something similar occurs. That's a good thing.

Good luck to you!

[jtboy29]

I think as long as you learn from your mistake and fix it the next time you will be fine. A fellow classmate of mine felt bad after she administered the wrong vaccine to a patient and she felt horrible however; the vaccine was not harmful to the patient. All it is learning from your mistake and fixing it the next time. Everyone makes mistakes and I bet any nurse out there can't say that they have made mistakes in their career or even nursing students that have not made a mistake at all. We all make mistakes. Don't worry too much and beat yourself up too much about it.

[al3x117, RN, EMT-B]

Bro seriously. You need to understand in nursing you will make mistakes! If you haven't ever made a mistake i'm sorry but that is not human. Take responsibility for your actions and learn from it. You won't ever make that mistake again. Never quit nursing just because you made a mistake. Learn from it and be a better nurse on the next shift! Keep working hard and kick ass!!!