What did I do wrong?

Published

OK. So I'm a Cna while in nursing school. I work at a retirement center. And I was assigned to sit with this gentlement who had a stroke. One evening while sitting with him he gets really agitated and starts yelling, screaming at his wife. Kept getting up saying things were out the window that wasn't there, asking was he going to doe and couldn't sit still. I thought he was honestly going to hit his wife..I never seen him so upset. Now I'm not suppose to give meds we give them to his wife and she gives them to him. Every other day, the mangers are changing the "what to do" forums and who to call and his son also. He's on hospice. I called the triage nurse because it was late. I explained to her what was going on and I told her he had ativan and she told me to give it to him. ThT was two days ago and now. I get to work and I hear I'm in big trouble and the son is so upset yelling. Saying it was the wrong medicine, but it had his name on it and he's now messed up. Anyway I'm suppose to have a meeting tomorrow and don't know what to expect. I feel bad and everyone is looking at me crazy like its my fault and I don't know what to tell my boss. I feel embarrassed and it makes me not want to be a nurse anymore. Plus the wife is fabricating the story and she isn't all the way in her right mind. How can I handle this or should've handle this? I charted everything, like I was suppose to and other girls gave it to him and didn't chart anything.

According to my state we can only remind of taking meds and not touch. The med he took that I posted was dc'ed and still in his box. The wife and I saw that it said give for anxious and agitation and she took it out and gave it to him. I called my boss and she didn't even know and said she'll look into it and call me back and if its in his box it shouldn't be a problem.

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I try to quote you guys from my phone but I can't

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Thanks MissRn for keeping it real. I like nurses like you. I guess it'll make me a better nurse.

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Why? Because I was so dumb?

It's not about dumb/smart. Practicing as a nurse requires a certain education (and passing boards so that your state can verify that you have the expected knowledge-base).

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I'm kind of with Bucky. I do feel for OP because I know how crappy it is to make a med error- that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize that you may have harmed another person because of...whatever reason. In this case, you aren't a nurse and you shouldn't have been administering meds, or even being the one to advise the wife on which med.

It does sound like a bad scenario from soup to nuts.

You aren't dumb, OP, but you made some bad choices throughout. The good thing is you will never do that again. We have all made mistakes, and unfortunately will continue to, but you rarely make the same mistake twice. The "great" thing about taking care of people is there are SO MANY mistakes to make.

I am really annoyed at the triage nurse in this whole saga. She really should have assessed her patient his/herself.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
LadyFree28- perhaps they're on the mobile website, where administration refuses to add the quote feature back, making threads 10x harder to follow?

If so, you still can state the poster-as you did...:whistling:

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I try to quote you guys from my phone but I can't

Then at least state the poster's name...us posters and readers at least know what post, instead of a random quote-we won't know if it's a question, a figure of speech, a response, etc.

Thanks! :up:

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I have been dealing with a somewhat similar situation. During report a nurse told me she was giving a certain pain medication, so I followed what she told me in report and gave the medication. There was not an order to discontinue the current medication and start a different one, so the nurse took it upon herself to do it. I didn't double check the orders so I continued to make a medication error and a huge mistake. In the end I get a write up and suspension, not to mention a huge blow to my confidence. Now I can say I have learned an important lesson, don't trust what another nurse tells you especially when it comes to medications. From now on I will go check the orders myself before giving a medication. As others have said, know your scope of practice. Do not do something just because someone tells you do it, because in the end your butt is on the line for whatever you do.

:yes: you learned the most important lesson; only TRUST what you KNOW and see...and if you don't know, look it up, investigate before you proceed.

(((HUGS)))

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On my phone anyway, I hit the "reply" button then when that box opens I hit the "reply" button a second time and then the quote/post I am responding to appears.

Figured it out kind of by trial and error. Hope that helps :)

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When I worked as a HHA if the meds were already divided up in one of those week organizers, we were allowed to transfer the daily meds from the specific day into the med cup.

The advice I can give you is to be honest with what happened, only give the facts, do not include any opinions into it and leave it at that. Whatever's going to happen will happen.

I too worked with a couple that was confused so the family locked their meds up and only the aides knew where the keys were for their own safety. However, I would never take extra meds that weren't pre-divided into the days and add them to the patients dose. Home care is different in the sense that supervisors can't deal with situations right then and there because they are at the office or at home themselves. That being said, while the supervisor should've been aware of your scope of practice, their main concern at that point is what can I do to resolve this situation or at least stabilize it right here and now? Therefore they're not thinking this CNA can't give meds, they're thinking the CNA told me the patient has Ativan, Ativan can be calming, try the Ativan. According to your story apparently it was actually haldol? So the supervisor made a huge mistake in the sense that yes, in the end she wasn't able to verify the right med since she wasn't there and the wrong med was given. However, you, the CNA gave the med, not the actual nurse would was licensed to do so, so you will be the one facing the consequences. I think you learned a lesson and it will only make you a better nurse in the end when you finally become one.

Good luck!

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Yeah I will, but we're allowed to give it to the wife. It had give to wife to give as prn when agitated. The hospice nurse told a coworker that others have been giving him the same med and haven't charted I was the only one charting and documenting I gave it to him..you know.

:yes: you learned the most important lesson; only TRUST what you KNOW and see...and if you don't know, look it up, investigate before you proceed.

(((HUGS)))

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.

1.Trust your gut instinct. If something sounds wrong or dodgy, dont be afraid to ask for it written down, protect your butt.

2. While as a CNA you cant have anything to do with the meds, it would be good to start learning about some of the medications you see in your area. It will stand you in good stead for when you start nursing. For example haldol while also given for agitation, used in small doses can be very effective in treating nausea. We use it alot in palliative care.

3. We all make mistakes. Any nurse who says otherwise is IMO telling fibs. I had a fairly monumental mistake just before Christmas. Made the mistake of working with a temperature and totally managed to give the wrong meds to the wrong patient. The patient was ok, however I've done alot of beating myself up over it. I got asked to explain what happened and have had to redo my med competency however certainly learned not work febrile.

4. Look at what has happened and go through what you could have done differently and what you would do if ever happened again. Employers accept that mistakes happen and being able to show what you have learned from it can go along way IMO

Take care and hoping for a positive outcome for you

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