Your biggest mistake was.......

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Ok, we're all human and sometimes make mistakes. I start nursing school in September and so affraid of making a mistake when it comes to patient care. Can any of you share some of the mistakes? Who knows, maybe some of us newbies (and seasoned students) will learn from them.

You were blessed indeed.
Had Mom not been forgetful that day, my daughter would have been dead, I'm sure. Had she not forgotten to give the 2 doses, I wouldn't have given one before I left for work and wouldn't have caught it until the next day... which would have no doubt been too late.
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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

This was just prior to when I quit working med/surg and contributed to me quitting. I knew I was experiencing burnout. I was pulled to CCU for a 12 hour shift. I had a patient who had a Lasix drip. I don't recall the dosage but long story short I set the pump for about 4 times what the rate was supposed to be and didn't catch it for about 2 hours. If I remember correctly the patient received 200mg Lasix IV over 2 hours rather than 50mg. Everything turned out fine. The patient had CHF. It upset me so much that I gave my 2 weeks notice. The CCU nurses treated me like a was an idiot. The doctor was actually very understanding as was the nurse manager. Being pulled was just too much stress and I knew it would become a regular occurance as CCU was extremely short staffed.

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Which reminds me of an older lady we admitted once with dig toxicity.

She'd been previously discharged on dig as a new med, and in teaching at discharge was simply told they were for her heart.

So every time she experienced angina, she popped a dig.

I think of that when I am doing d/c instructions on meds, and don't take for granted that the patient understands what is meant by such vague descriptions of the meds' use.

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
Had Mom not been forgetful that day, my daughter would have been dead, I'm sure. Had she not forgotten to give the 2 doses, I wouldn't have given one before I left for work and wouldn't have caught it until the next day... which would have no doubt been too late.

I don't think I've ever heard anything as dreadful regarding a wrong prescription. I bet the pharmacist had more than a few sleepless nights. It's a good lesson for all of us. Check and double check our loved ones prescriptions. My parents use Walgreens and don't have a description of the med on the bottle. I think it is an awesome idea! It should be mandatory for every pharmacy!

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I don't think I've ever heard anything as dreadful regarding a wrong prescription. I bet the pharmacist had more than a few sleepless nights. It's a good lesson for all of us. Check and double check our loved ones prescriptions. My parents use Walgreens and don't have a description of the med on the bottle. I think it is an awesome idea! It should be mandatory for every pharmacy!

My pharmacy is in SW VA. All the Walgreens in town use these ID stickers on all prescriptions. They are automatically printed up with the label and affixed to the bottle.

As far as the pharmacist goes, I don't know what happened to him. Had it been me, I'd have been phoning Richmond offering to return my license...

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
Which reminds me of an older lady we admitted once with dig toxicity.

She'd been previously discharged on dig as a new med, and in teaching at discharge was simply told they were for her heart.

So every time she experienced angina, she popped a dig.

I think of that when I am doing d/c instructions on meds, and don't take for granted that the patient understands what is meant by such vague descriptions of the meds' use.

When I worked HH...I had not one patient on digoxin who knew to take their pulse before taking the med. :nono:

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Specializes in ICU;CCU;Telemetry;L&D;Hospice;ER/Trauma;.

MARRYING THE LORD OF THE FLIES.....

and eventhough it wasn't a nursing error....it definitely was a misjudgement on my part...and I know many of you can relate!! crni

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emmanuel, you're a nurse and caught the mistake.

can you imagine the outcome for those not in the medical field?

i made a ton of mistakes in nsg school.

the one that stands out is when i emptied a bedpan into the bathroom sink.

my instructor turned all shades of white then red.

she even had me take her bp.

hahahahaha.

sorry.

those are one of my fonder memories.

leslie

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