What if?

Back in 1990, when I was a new nurse working on a med surg floor, we used to have vials of potassium sitting around for when we had to mix in IV drip with K+.

I remember a nurse drawing up K+ instead of saline for an IV flush, and another nurse was orientating her and caught her mistake as she was inserting the syringe into the IV line! Yikes, it was a close call and the nurse was sobbing crying, just thinking about what she had almost done.

Its so EASY to do. BUt nowdays, they don't keep k+ on the floor anymore, and pharmacy has to mix up our IV drips with K+, there are a few IV drips with K+ that are already mixed in our Pyxis cabinets.

So scarey!!

Hospitals are never happy to hear that an error on an employee's part caused a patient death. But it does happen - we are only human. For the most part, unless what you did was due to gross negligence or sheer incompetence, the hospitals usually have legal departments to cover you. I wouldn't let the fear of possibly making such an error keep you from getting into nursing. If anything, take that fear and make yourself a diligent nurse careful and competent. Don't be lazy or sloppy and always, always carry your own malpractice insurance policy.