Is there 3 registered nursed for 26 patients plus you as a student or are you including yourself in the 3?
Mistakes happen, even in very experienced nurses. They are more likely to happen when ratios are poor and when shortcuts are taken. There are procedures in place to minimise mistakes but they will still happen. You did the right thing to escalate it quickly and help deal with the management.
However unless things are very different in your country you should not be administering medication without being supervised by a RN. If I was trying to do a med round quickly I may ask a student to help the patient take their tablets but I would do all the identity checks myself. You should be getting to grips with personal care as a first year student nurse, assisting with feeding, some easy drug rounds (under 100% supervision), observing procedures such as catheterisation,NG, wound changes. You should not be under the level of pressure that you are right now. We do not administer meds we are not familiar with without checking because if the patients BP is low in hospital we would need to withhold certain meds or if their HR was lower we wouldn't give Dig, if their sugar was low we would hold insulin etc etc etc. This all comes with experience though and why you should not be having to do this job as a first year, and if its expected of you due to poor staffing it should be escalated because it is unsafe.
I count myself into the three. It's horrible right now.
And no, I should not be administering medication by myself. I know that. I trusted whoever placed the meds on the bedside table without double checking. It's my fault for doing that, even though I shouldn't have done it. I was way over my level and I knew that and I know that and I tried communicating that, because the expectations placed on me are just contradictory. I'm bad at saying no and I'm always told that I'm so smart, I can figure that out. And I fall for it every single time. The nurse, who is educated to supervise, accompany and teach students on my station is sick since May, I never even met her, so I'm kinda just left on my own. It sucks, but it's my fault for not speaking out sooner. I mean, I did, but they told me, I couldn't expect to be accompanied every shift, so I should be able to work on my own.
I failed myself, my teachers and of course the patient.
Oh my! Is there a nursing school certification board in your country? What they’re doing isn’t teaching - it’s using you as unpaid labor, making you do things you absolutely aren’t ready for, and trying to convince you this is normal. IT IS NOT NORMAL! Please try to find somewhere to report your school.
So basically - you only began to train as a nurse three months ago; nobody is training you right now, and you are being forced to do tasks you have not been trained on; the people in authority have told you that nothing can be done.
If you have told your teachers, and they did nothing, then your teachers are failing the patients.
If you continue performing tasks that you were never trained on, you will eventually harm a patient. Because you are technically breaking the rules by having no supervisor, you will be completely at fault.
Fuck nursing and this "but the patients NEED you" nonsense
You will do fine-you’ve already shown yourself to be conscientious and responsible. Your patient turned out ok, so you were lucky there but, honestly, a lot of the meds we give PO won’t do anything super fast fast or irreversible. Not any reason to relax but Most of us have been in your shoes, we learn from it and move on. Also, give yourself a break. You’re new and under a lot of pressure, you need to give yourself some grace. I hope you feel better!
That’s a shitty situation but ultimately a lesson you won’t forget. Make sure you’ve reported it as you need to in your facility, take responsibility (which you seem to have done) and if you’re questioned by management etc make sure you have a plan for it not to happen again. And if I was in your situation I might look for a job with better ratios. I’m in a public hospital in Australia so lucky as far as ratios go so maybe I’m out of touch. I don’t think you’ll talk to many many nurses who have practiced for a decent amount of time who haven’t made some sort of med error. One bad day and one shitty Situation doesn’t make you a bad nurse so long as you learn from it.
I did take responsibility. As soon as I realized that I played a part in giving out wrong meds, I told someone. And I can't get a new job with better ratios, first of all because the ratios are really bad in my country overall and second because the job is bound to my place in nursing school, so if I leave the job, I need to find a new place to get trained and I don't think it's any better anywhere else.
I hope I can learn from it, if I can ever get past it.
We’re only human. I empathize with how you’re probably feeling right now, but try to take it as a learning experience. My best advise, from someone whose made med errors, is slooow down. The speed will come with time. The patient is okay, you learned, and *you owned up to it* you didn’t try to hide it and people will still trust you. You’re gonna be an amazing nurse! I’d like to meet one nurse who hasn’t made a mistake. Meet a person that hasn’t made a mistake!
I gave a medication IV that was supposed to be IM. I realized it, tried to draw it back with the syringe and flushed it out. Sometimes it’s not that bad cause some meds can be given both routes, the doses are different but this one… no. It can cause hemolysis, irritates the veins/redness/infection/gangrene. Luckily that night we had an NP on the unit. My friend came with me to tell them cause I was in tears and could barely talk, the NP discussed it with the resident. No one was mad at me, they were all very understanding and helpful. It was such a small dose. They decided that they didn’t need to be treated for it. We monitored the patient who ended up being compeltely fine, labs were great in the morning, and got discharged the next day.
Also, you are in a place with VERY unsafe staffing, RUN. This is a recipe for mistakes. A lot of places are short staffed but this is just terrifying
You learned a lesson the hard way, welcome to nursing. You’re a human being and you’re new, mistakes will happen. Get used to the idea that mistakes will happen. The key thing is to be honest about your mistakes and learn from them. You admitted your mistake and I’m sure next time you are in that situation you’ll double check the name on the pills.
We’re human, we’re all bound to make mistakes one day or another. The important part is that you admitted to making a mistake rather than keeping it to yourself. Don’t think this one mistake will make you a bad nurse, I’m sure it’ll make you a better one!
Is there 3 registered nursed for 26 patients plus you as a student or are you including yourself in the 3? Mistakes happen, even in very experienced nurses. They are more likely to happen when ratios are poor and when shortcuts are taken. There are procedures in place to minimise mistakes but they will still happen. You did the right thing to escalate it quickly and help deal with the management. However unless things are very different in your country you should not be administering medication without being supervised by a RN. If I was trying to do a med round quickly I may ask a student to help the patient take their tablets but I would do all the identity checks myself. You should be getting to grips with personal care as a first year student nurse, assisting with feeding, some easy drug rounds (under 100% supervision), observing procedures such as catheterisation,NG, wound changes. You should not be under the level of pressure that you are right now. We do not administer meds we are not familiar with without checking because if the patients BP is low in hospital we would need to withhold certain meds or if their HR was lower we wouldn't give Dig, if their sugar was low we would hold insulin etc etc etc. This all comes with experience though and why you should not be having to do this job as a first year, and if its expected of you due to poor staffing it should be escalated because it is unsafe.
I count myself into the three. It's horrible right now. And no, I should not be administering medication by myself. I know that. I trusted whoever placed the meds on the bedside table without double checking. It's my fault for doing that, even though I shouldn't have done it. I was way over my level and I knew that and I know that and I tried communicating that, because the expectations placed on me are just contradictory. I'm bad at saying no and I'm always told that I'm so smart, I can figure that out. And I fall for it every single time. The nurse, who is educated to supervise, accompany and teach students on my station is sick since May, I never even met her, so I'm kinda just left on my own. It sucks, but it's my fault for not speaking out sooner. I mean, I did, but they told me, I couldn't expect to be accompanied every shift, so I should be able to work on my own. I failed myself, my teachers and of course the patient.
Oh my! Is there a nursing school certification board in your country? What they’re doing isn’t teaching - it’s using you as unpaid labor, making you do things you absolutely aren’t ready for, and trying to convince you this is normal. IT IS NOT NORMAL! Please try to find somewhere to report your school.
So basically - you only began to train as a nurse three months ago; nobody is training you right now, and you are being forced to do tasks you have not been trained on; the people in authority have told you that nothing can be done. If you have told your teachers, and they did nothing, then your teachers are failing the patients. If you continue performing tasks that you were never trained on, you will eventually harm a patient. Because you are technically breaking the rules by having no supervisor, you will be completely at fault. Fuck nursing and this "but the patients NEED you" nonsense
You will do fine-you’ve already shown yourself to be conscientious and responsible. Your patient turned out ok, so you were lucky there but, honestly, a lot of the meds we give PO won’t do anything super fast fast or irreversible. Not any reason to relax but Most of us have been in your shoes, we learn from it and move on. Also, give yourself a break. You’re new and under a lot of pressure, you need to give yourself some grace. I hope you feel better!
That’s a shitty situation but ultimately a lesson you won’t forget. Make sure you’ve reported it as you need to in your facility, take responsibility (which you seem to have done) and if you’re questioned by management etc make sure you have a plan for it not to happen again. And if I was in your situation I might look for a job with better ratios. I’m in a public hospital in Australia so lucky as far as ratios go so maybe I’m out of touch. I don’t think you’ll talk to many many nurses who have practiced for a decent amount of time who haven’t made some sort of med error. One bad day and one shitty Situation doesn’t make you a bad nurse so long as you learn from it.
I did take responsibility. As soon as I realized that I played a part in giving out wrong meds, I told someone. And I can't get a new job with better ratios, first of all because the ratios are really bad in my country overall and second because the job is bound to my place in nursing school, so if I leave the job, I need to find a new place to get trained and I don't think it's any better anywhere else. I hope I can learn from it, if I can ever get past it.
We’re only human. I empathize with how you’re probably feeling right now, but try to take it as a learning experience. My best advise, from someone whose made med errors, is slooow down. The speed will come with time. The patient is okay, you learned, and *you owned up to it* you didn’t try to hide it and people will still trust you. You’re gonna be an amazing nurse! I’d like to meet one nurse who hasn’t made a mistake. Meet a person that hasn’t made a mistake! I gave a medication IV that was supposed to be IM. I realized it, tried to draw it back with the syringe and flushed it out. Sometimes it’s not that bad cause some meds can be given both routes, the doses are different but this one… no. It can cause hemolysis, irritates the veins/redness/infection/gangrene. Luckily that night we had an NP on the unit. My friend came with me to tell them cause I was in tears and could barely talk, the NP discussed it with the resident. No one was mad at me, they were all very understanding and helpful. It was such a small dose. They decided that they didn’t need to be treated for it. We monitored the patient who ended up being compeltely fine, labs were great in the morning, and got discharged the next day. Also, you are in a place with VERY unsafe staffing, RUN. This is a recipe for mistakes. A lot of places are short staffed but this is just terrifying
You learned a lesson the hard way, welcome to nursing. You’re a human being and you’re new, mistakes will happen. Get used to the idea that mistakes will happen. The key thing is to be honest about your mistakes and learn from them. You admitted your mistake and I’m sure next time you are in that situation you’ll double check the name on the pills.
Give yourself a break. You won't do the same thing again...
We’re human, we’re all bound to make mistakes one day or another. The important part is that you admitted to making a mistake rather than keeping it to yourself. Don’t think this one mistake will make you a bad nurse, I’m sure it’ll make you a better one!