Everyone makes mistakes. We’re human. It’s bound to happen. But, as a nurse, I do my best to keep my work-related mistakes to a minimum. My patients are my responsibility, a fact I take quite seriously.
So, this morning, when I realized I had made a pretty big mistake, my stomach sank. My heart began to race. I became nauseated. One of my patients missed two doses of an important medication. To top that off, his early morning obs hadn’t been completed. I wish I could pinpoint exactly why. My best explanation is that this was a prime example of team nursing gone awry. A simple miscommunication led to this oversight. Everyone thought the other person had completed the tasks. And, in the flurry of our pre-dawn activities, the chart went unchecked. We didn’t catch our mistake until shift change.
I felt like a failure. I was mortified. I’m pretty sure all of the color drained from my face when I realized what had happened. It would have been easy to blame the agency nurse, but that wouldn’t be fair. I should have checked her work. That was my responsibility. I’m the one familiar with our policies and procedures. I know which medications are crucial. I shouldn’t have assumed anything.
Luckily, no harm was done. The patient was fine and incurred no adverse effects. We got him back on schedule with his medications. We reported the incident to our charge nurse and followed the appropriate channels. Still, this was a hard lesson learned. Self-doubt has clouded my mind all day, causing me to question myself and my practice. But, I guess, this may be the “silver lining” of mistakes. It forces self-introspection and demands improvement. So, I’m trying to take this incident in stride. I’ve learned from last night’s events. I will not make the same mistakes again. Now, I just need to get rid of the guilt, because I have another long night of work ahead of me.
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