Ugh so upset!!

[brycross33]

Sorry I just need to vent. It was a terrible day at clinical today. I made my first med error. I thought it was the 21st so I accidentally gave a sunrise med.(levothyroxine) I pretty much got chewed out by my teacher and have to write a paper about the 6 medication administration rights due Monday and I have to finish my pharm and mental health homework. I know med errors are not to be down played or anything but everyone makes them and if you were to make a med error levothyroxine would be an ok one to make it on because it doesn't do much harm. My teacher just made me feel like an idiot. My clinical teacher is also my pharm and mental health teacher and he told me that I talk too much in class and I need to focus...I'm really sorry but I come straight from work to class I work 12 hour night shifts at a hospital so I'm pretty dead I don't talk.. If anything I'm trying to keep myself awake during his lectures. When he said that last part that's what really made me upset. Sorry it's a really long rant and thank you for reading

[LaRN]

In all honesty I'm not making excuses I didn't avoid responsibility I owned up to my mistake I cought it but unfortunately it was after I gave the med it could have been more dangerous but why didn't the instructor do anything about the other student who made an equally dangerous error???

In the end it won't really matter.....but

I can't answer that without knowing more. Did the other student make her error after or before yours? what kind of error did that student make?

I think when students make errors it reflects on the instructor. Perhaps he was trying to avoid that.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

In all honesty I'm not making excuses I didn't avoid responsibility I owned up to my mistake I cought it but unfortunately it was after I gave the med it could have been more dangerous but why didn't the instructor do anything about the other student who made an equally dangerous error???

I agree with Boston on this. It is the ownership that you gave a wrong med....you own it and will learn from it and not make the same mistake twice. Yes you should report it yourself and what another student did/or didn't get punished for, and how more dangerous someone elses mistake is or is not, has no bearing on your mistake....you actions.

You are responsible for you own actions....it doesn't matter what is going on around you you have to be perfect. It sounds crazy but that is the truth of the matter.

[SubSippi]

Maybe the reason the teacher had you write a paper and not other students is due to your attitude concerning the error. Admitting you made a med error isn't anything noble, it's just what you do if you mess up. Looking for other people to share the blame with you doesn't help anything, and the truth is that the error was made because YOU misread the date. There's more to owning up to a mistake than just admitting to it.

You were lucky giving an extra dose of that medication didn't do more damage, and you were lucky it was a low dose thyroid medication you misread instead of something more serious. That medication could have been anything, and according to your story, it sounds like you would have made that mistake regardless.

Of course all nurses make mistakes, because all people make mistakes. One medication error is no indication of how good a nurse you'll be. But I suspect that if your attitude in clinicals is similar to the one you've shown on this thread, you might have needed a little extra push from your instructor to recognize the seriousness of your mistake.