Without meds

Editorial Team / Admin · Sep 30, 2015

Welcome to AN!

First, take a deep breath and step back. Look at the error objectively. The vast majority of medication errors are systems errors. And to be honest, almost every single nurse will make a medication mistake at some point during his or her career. Those who say they haven't are likely lying, never realized the error, or are relatively new and haven't passed many meds yet.

The solution isn't turning away from any type of nursing that requires giving medications. The solution is to look at the situation and what you can learn from it. Was it an emergency situation where there were many people just yelling out for things? Was it a look alike/sound alike drug? There are so many different influences on medication errors. Review your process for medication administration- are you following the 5 (or whatever we're up to now) rights? What can you personally do to prevent another error in the future? What can be changed in the system to prevent the error? The key point is to learn rather than avoid.

brownbook · Sep 30, 2015

I know you can't give too much details....but I hope you may be exaggerating the "almost really hurt someone," part. We have all made med errors, we all feel horrible afterwards, want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Take a deep breath. No one can die from one wrong pill. (Okay maybe a really rare acute anaphylaxis reaction.) IV medications errors can be more serious but even they are not necessarily deadly. I think it took a lot of guts for you to come here and make your post, admit here that you made a mistake. You sound like a good caring nurse. Some nurses would just shrug it off, be nonchalant.

quiltynurse56, LPN, LVN · Sep 30, 2015

As has been said here, take a step back and evaluate what happened. What can you do to prevent making a med error in the future? I know I made some med errors very early on. The first one was found by someone else, the next one I found myself. For the second one, it was a last name issue. I was in tears. I admitted the area, followed the protocols for assessing and reporting and had to have some one go with me the next med pass I did.

In some ways, it was a relief getting the med error over with. They also helped me to focus and to double and triple check what I as doing (beyond the rights). Think of how many meds you HAVE given correctly. They far outnumber the time you did not. WE take it hard when we make a med error. After all, it is pounded into us in school - Thou Shalt Not Ever Make A Med Error. I know that message was given to my class loud and clear.

Get back into it, do what you need to do to correct the error and move forward. The fact that you feel horrible tells me that you are a great nurse.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 30, 2015

Well, just to make you smiling maybe, one gal who gave me anaphylaxis a few years ago still works in the same restaurant... and we're good buddies... and she's almost over with her pre-reqs for my former program. She saw the code responce and decided that she liked it more than waiting on tables. I wrote her a letter and she'll be a good nurse with time and effort, although, yes, she almost killed me at one point.

For the business, if you really, really want to have rest of meds, wound care nurses hardly ever have to deal with them and the specialty is pretty interesting.

elkpark · Oct 1, 2015

Public health nursing? Case management? Probably lots of others if I thought about it more ...

loriangel14, RN · Oct 1, 2015

Every nurse has made a med error . Don't let this stop you from being a nurse. Yes you feel awful, everyone does when it happens. Learn from it and move on

AlwaysLearning247, BSN · Oct 1, 2015

I understand that you're feeling discouraged, however I wouldn't let the fear of making another med error keep you from ever passing medications out again. Many nurses make med errors, take it as a learning experience. I made one med error and my facility was very nice about it and educated me more on their protocol. Of course I felt awful but the patient was fine and now I know. Good luck!

clockwood · Oct 1, 2015

Making a med error takes your breath away, it makes your heart stop for a second. But guess what? To error is human. Here is a fantastic Ted Talk about errors in medicine Brian Goldman: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that? | TED Talk | TED.com