Took out wrong person's IV

[jess17]

Hello! I haven't posted here in a very long time but I'm on here almost everyday. I'm in my last semester of nursing school and will be graduating in May... I have done very well so far in school and have had no problems in my clinicals, but of course, on my very LAST clinical day I was passing meds, and as I walked out of the patient's room my nurse said "Can you take out her IV for me" so I went back in the room and took out her IV (saline lock)...but then found out she was talking about the patient in the room next to her! She did not specify who so I thought she was talking about the patient who's room I had just walked out of...I feel stupid because I should have made sure myself who she was talking about and thought it through before I just automatically did what she asked. I was embarrassed and felt stupid. I'm posting because I've been worrying about it and wondering if I can get into trouble for something like that? I am about to graduate so I guess I'm just really nervous and worrying about EVERYTHING and I want to make sure I am competent. All my nurse said was "Oh you took out so and so's?? There wasn't an order for that! Well hopefully she'll be discharged today anyway." I said I'm so sorry I thought you were talking about so and so. She didn't seem too concerned but did seem slightly annoyed by it. It was a stupid mistake, but should I be worrying about it as much as I am? Can I possibly get in trouble for mistakenly taking it out without an order? And I want to apply to that hospital AND that floor when I graduate... Thanks so much for any replies

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Oh, OK.

[mappers]

Don't do any order or procedure without going to the chart and seeing the order and then checking the wristband of the patient....an error is an error is an error....don't start minimizing now or it will affect your whole work ethic.

Should you be failed? No but it was an error.

I don't disagree with you that if asked by another nurse to do something, always check the chart yourself. But how often have you seen an order to take out an IV?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

nurse- "can you take out her iv for me?"

student- "yes. hers?" "okay. whose?"

i find it a bit weird, that you did not return any comment or even acknowledge the request in any way. but just lumbered back in and took out the iv.

lumbered? that seems a little rude!

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I had an order once to take out a foley on April XX. That happened to be my Mother's birthday. SO the date stuck in my memory. I went to the gift shop, bought Mama a gift and had it wrapped, still having her birth date in mind. I went to the car at lunch and put the gift in so I wouldn't forget it. I called her and told her I would drop by after work, though it would be late (12 hr shifts-hate them) and her not to go to bed til I got there. I went upstairs and in a few minutes went and took out the foley, charted it and that was that-----or so i thought. After work I went out to Mama's gave her her gift and we chatted a while and I went on home (1 hr commute). Next day I hear all Hades had broken loose WHY DID I TAKE OUT THE FOLEY ONE DAY EARLY! Uh Oh. Fortunately for me no residual effect and the patient was discharged the next day. I had my dates wrong. I had wondered why my Mother was a bit confused, but then she was 80 at the time. So lesson learned. Look at the order and look at the clock and LOOK AT THE CALENDAR!

[dscrn]

I think, especially as students we want to be "helpful"...and do whatever is asked of us...consider it a lesson well learned. Once when passing meds, I accidentally gave aprn med-Lomotil, I think-and the pt had not had diarrhea in days....

[EmmyBee]

Everyone on here (nurse or otherwise) has made mistakes, whether they were aware of them or not. This is bound to happen, based on the kind of job that we do and the fact that we are only human. Even though some are bigger and more detrimental than others, a mistake is a mistake. So really, who's to say which one is more careless or stupid than the other?

I'm not saying that you shouldn't take this seriously, but you can't condemn yourself for it either. Learn from it. Like others have said, make sure you always check a patient's order, before you perform any procedure, no matter how minor it may seem. If you just go by another nurse's verbal order and something goes terribly wrong, chances are that nurse will not say she told you to do it. And even if she does, you performed the action and it's your license.

This does not mean you will be a bad nurse. Just be more aware of what you are doing, before you do it. I'm sure this particular thing will not happen to you again. Good luck!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Nurse- "Can you take out her IV for me?"

Student- "Yes. Hers?" "Okay. Whose?"

I find it a bit weird, that you did not return any comment or even acknowledge the request in any way. But just lumbered back in and took out the IV.

I don't, I have come walking out of a patients room before and my co nurse who was right in the little cubby area in the hall asked me would I mind getting another BP or checking the Output or something and I said sure and went back in to do so. I think it's an easy mistake to happen in the situation given since she was just walking out of the room.

OP all you can do is learn from it, and sharing it like you did enables others to learn as well, now I will always make sure I verify who they are talking about in a situation like this.

[onetiredmomma]

When someone tells me something about a pt using she or he I always respond with She who, even if I have 4 male and one female pt. We should always identify pts by name, especially when asking a co-worker to do something for us. Learn and move on. As others have said, not the worst mistake, no your last. A similar instance is when a visitor comes to the desk and says "my (mom, g'ma, etc) relative needs pain med and look insulted when you ask who their relative is...

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

Meh. It's not the end of the world. We've all done stuff that later we kicked ourself for. In a case like this, I'd just call the MD and tell them I accidently pulled out the IV and ask if he wants it back in or not. If he does, then you go back in and restart the IV. Most people who have IVs have restarts every 3 days anyway. If the patient asks why you can tell them the truth--"I was told to remove it, but it was a mistake.' Don't elaborate on it, just apologize and move on.

Of course, you just had a crash course in When To Check Doctor's Orders.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Don't do any order or procedure without going to the chart and seeing the order and then checking the wristband of the patient....an error is an error is an error....don't start minimizing now or it will affect your whole work ethic.

Should you be failed? No but it was an error.

I've never seen some place where an order was needed to d/c an IV.

[AlynnSN]

I too am a Student Nurse, and if it HAD been something major that you had done, because you don't have a license and are supervised by someone who does, it's the supervisor's license on the line.

Just a friendly reminder to all you licensed ones out there. Make sure to be specific if teaching a student while they're in clinical. Even though the student makes the mistake, it's your license that could get pulled.

[chihuahuaman]

I've never seen some place where an order was needed to d/c an IV.

In the last two hospitals I did clinical rotation at we always needed doctors orders to d/c an IV or S/L, unless the S/L was blocked then we needed to get an IV nurse to start another one. I guess it depends on the hospital.