med errors

I have been working at my new job for 5 months and I love it. It is part time which is perfect. This is a catholic nursing home run by nuns with very strict rigiid rules. I have been nursing for 25 years and still find it rewarding. Recently, there have been some shakups in the nursing dept. A new wing has opened and nurses are being floated and bounced around frequently.I have not had to float that often since I am only working 24 hrs. However, today I was asked to work on a unit I was unfamilair with. It was horrific the med pass so heavy that there is no time to even breath. I made a med error by giving a resident her 6pm dose of oxycondone 10 mg instead of her 6a dose of 0.5mg. She was fine. She also has prn's for this med. The supervisor was great. I reported the error right away filled out the proper parer work and conferenced with my supervisor. She stated not to worry as did the charge nurse on the unit.

I however felt sick. I am familiar with the DON and she will make this a negative and may issue a warning. i certainly will acccept the outcome for my error.but wanted a little feed back from other nurses on med errors and how they dealt with them. what was the error> what was the outcome /ow were you treated? I feel punishing a nurse for a mistake is not helpful nor does it help the nurse correct what may have gone wrong and help her take steps to make sure it does not happen again. Thank for any thoughts! Melinda.....By the way hello to all!

Welcome to the forum!

To answer your question - most facilities that I have worked at do not use a single med error to be punitive - but it does depend on the error and the consequences for the patient involved. In other words if an error does not cause harm to the patient most facilities will investigate how and why it happened and possibly in-service or meet with the nurse involved to make sure that it doesn't happen again. If however an error results in negative consequences for the patient up to and including death it is taken very seriously due to the legal consequences for the hospital, the treating physician and the nurse involved. Never assume your hospital will cover you legally in the event of an error. Always report any error you make and be willing to take the consequences - we are all human and mistakes happen but the checks in place for passing medications such as the five rights and 3 checks are there to prevent errors and most errors happen when we are stressed or in a hurry and cut corners. Never let some try to rush you through med pass or counts. Stand you ground but also be willing to accept any disciplinary action that might help you be a better nurse.


Peace and Namaste

Hppy

You reported the incident right away and pt. was fine, things should be fine.
Welcome to this site

I agree with K-Dog - You reported right away and no one was hurt - if the admin in questions gives you a hard time - take it with a smile and file it in your brain as a lesson learned.


Hppy

Welcome to the site. I have seen that it depends upon policies at different facilities and the personnel involved.