Was I penalized too much for my pharmacology sim final? URGENT !

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sorry, to put such urgency but final grades are coming up and I need all the help that I can possibly get!

hello everyone, I am a nursing student in my first year of school. I recently had a pharmacology sim final last week where I had to administered a subQ insulin shot to a mannequin. Long story short, I did everything perfectly, BUT calculate the dosage correctly. I came up with 40 units, and i showed the instructor; however, despite showing this to her, I still administered the mannequin the prescribed 4 units of insulin (she was on a sliding scale). The entire final was 50 points and for wrong calculation, I literally got 0/50. I was heartbroken. I knew that what I did was a mistake but I did not think they would penalize me THAT much. The rubric even stated that miscalculation was supposedly dinged 5 points.

On another note, another student nurse that is a friend of mine also did her sim final and basically just forgot all together to even calculate the dosage and still got penalized for only 5 points. Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt that too a critical error? i mean, I am currently trying to dispute it right now, but I haven't heard anything back and I desperately needs these points. Thanks for answering !

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

I know it doesn't seem fair, and maybe in some ways it's not fair, but in the end it doesn't matter what your classmate did, only what you did. You made a math error, simple or complex, a math error. For the purpose of your class check off, it may seem like one small part, but in practice, it's a big deal: a mistake like that could kill someone.

Does it mean you should fail? I don't know. If it were me I might be tempted to give you another "shot". I see the argument for a failure though.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I am sorry you are going through this.......however, Drug errors are a big deal. It's not about grades and who is being treated how.....if two nurse make the same drug error and one patient dies and the other one lives is that nurse any less guilty of hurting someone?

When you graduate there are no errors. Errors will kill someone......ask this nurses family. Ask this patients parents.

Nurse's Suicide highlights twin tragedies of medical errors

Kimberly Hiatt killed herself after overdosing a baby, revealing the anguish of caregivers who make mistake110620-kimberly-hiatt1-9a.grid-5x2.jpg

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43529641/ns/health-health_care/t/nurses-suicide-highlights-twin-tragedies-medical-errors/?gt1=43001#.UZC9Lld1G9U

Check out this thread.......https://allnurses.com/nicu-nursing-neonatal/sad-story-all-584375.html

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

It can also depend on the drug...40 units of insulin instead of 4 units can be deadly.

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Ok. In the "real world" this is huge - could be a trip to icu, or worse, fatal. I am not downplaying the severity of this- better to learn in classroom setting than on a patient.

Having said that, the school should honor the grading rubric they set up. 0/50 is not fair. If you do try to appeal, I would emphasize that you do understand the severity of your error, and are not trying to downplay it, but just asking to be graded on the criteria set forth by the school. I would not bring up your friend, that is not relevant. Good luck!

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Specializes in critical care.

Perhaps this is a lesson in the severity of not dropping the zero?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Telemetry, ER.

I have to agree with the previous responses. What happened to your friend, or anyone else, is irrelevant. I know it might not seem fair, but that's life (and nursing school!). I would meet with the instructor who graded you and talk to him/her. Explain that you understand your error and that you learned from it. Maybe how you can avoid it from happening again (double check your math, verify with another). If I was you, I would have the rubric with me and ask the instructor to explain why she gave you 0/50. Then I would explain why I feel like the rubric should be followed. Rubrics are there for a reason, unfortunately not all instructors follow them. If she refused to follow the rubric, I would address the issue with the next person up in the chain. Another option might be to find out if you can remediate. At my school, you would have failed for the error. But you would be given 7 days to re-do the demonstration. If you messed up again or did not complete the return demonstration in time, it would be a 0. Good luck! Let us know what happens!

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Well, first of all, I really hope you can talk to your instructor and get this cleared up. If it is posted on the rubric, I would think the instructor would follow it... But on the same note, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way, you should have failed pharm :( We make mistakes like this in nursing school and get penalized for them so that we don't make these mistakes when we get to put the "RN" after our names. Could you imagine if you had done this to a live PATIENT?

But honestly, I hope you get it cleared up. And, I hope you don't ever make a med mistake like that on a living pt. Best of luck, PLS let us know what happens!!!

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Specializes in ICU/ Surgery/ Nursing Education.

Bad mistake?? Well of course it is, but isn't the simulation lab the place we go to make mistakes. I think that 0/50 is harsh but one thing I have learned is nursing school isn't fair and doesn't always follow the handbook guidelines. Hopefully you learned from this mistake and will never do this again. I don't sound too encouraging but if you can find a way to recover from this it will make you a better nurse/student. You now can see how easy it is for a well intentioned nurse to make a drastic mistake.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, you got the calculation wrong, however, you administered 4 units, which was the correct dose? So, technically, this isn't a medication error, it's a math error? I would think that the rubric states 5 points for this reason and it should be honored. We give insulin to real pt's, it must be verified by both our clinical instructor and the RN assigned to our pt, who have already reviewed the order. We are learning, and expected to make mistakes, and 50 points seems harsh, especially considering that the rubric says 5 points. I would first approach the instructor who graded the simulation then go up from there. Remain calm, but stand your ground, and most importantly, remain professional. Don't mention fairness or any other students. I'm not saying that that these types of errors are acceptable by any means, but this is why we're here, to learn. Good luck, I hope it works out!

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

On the upside...I'll bet you'll NEVER forget to double-check your calculations again :) The good thing about making mistakes is learning from them.

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Specializes in Hospice + Palliative.

I'm confused.... according to the sliding scale the pt was due to get 4 units, but by your calculations it should have been 40 units, but then you ultimately gave 4 units? It seems to me that if that is all correct, then there were several errors made (in calculating the dosage, in drawing the correct amount up according to your caculation, and then in doing final checks to make sure everything matched before actually administering the med)

how did you know to draw up 4u if you calculated 40? At any point, did you stop and say "wait, these don't match?" I think that's probably what caused the instructor to give you 0/50.

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