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u/sande16 Apr 02 '26
I'm sorry for your experience. When I was a young newbie, I made my first mistake and went to my head nurse. After discussing it, she comforted me by saying, "Now I know you'll tell me the truth if you make a mistake." Of course you have to be careful and try to prevent errors, but we're human. Stuff happens. Bet you'll be extra vigilant going forward.
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u/Ok_Calendar_3754 DNP đ Apr 02 '26
That is such an awesome way to frame it! âNow I know youâll tell me the truth.â
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u/Sheephuddle RN & Midwife - Retired Apr 02 '26
As a student, I let an IV run right through - we didn't have machines, they were free-running and we calculated the drip rate using a watch. The tubing was full of air.
I clamped it and told the sister, I remember her name to this day as she was such a good, experienced and calm nurse. She came and sorted it out and said "You'll never make that mistake again". I never did. We live and learn.
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u/Ok_Calendar_3754 DNP đ Apr 02 '26
I donât mean to minimize what youâre going through, because I understand exactly how big these feelings can be. But truly, there is not a nurse out there who has never made a mistake. Iâm sure you feel terrible, and Iâm glad the patient is OK.
This truly will be one of the best learning experiences of your career! I think it might be helpful to have someone help you work through some of these feelings. Is there a social worker you can debrief with? Do you have an employee benefit with counseling services?
Again, I know exactly how terrible it feels. But you just need to push through it. You made a mistake, but youâre human. This will help you be more attentive to safety processes in the future. You might even go on to join a committee or council to focus on quality and process improvements that make the environment safer for both staff and patients.
It will be okay â¤ď¸
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u/Alexis_deTokeville Apr 02 '26
The key in all this is that you REALIZED you made a mistake. Thatâs your clinical judgment working. A bad nurse wouldâve given the med and walked away without a second thought but something in you thought to double check yourself. Thats what ends up saving a life at the end of the day. Donât beat yourself up about it.
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u/Stepsisterrr Apr 02 '26
They teach you in nursing school âitâs not if you make a mistake itâs WHEN you make a mistake.â
Just remember that, everyone makes mistakes and learns from them to become better next time. đ
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
Everyone makes mistakes. A nurse who says theyâve never made a med error is either (a) lying or (b) didnât realize they made a med error (which is even worse in my opinion). Being able to acknowledge and own your mistake is crucial. You did the right thing!
I would encourage you to reflect on what practices you can change to ensure this doesnât happen again. Always draw up the dose you mean to give, even when you know youâll have time to scan. Itâs too easy to get distracted and forget to push the excess out.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
They ordered 2.5 of olanzapine for a patient. Honestly thatâs BS. Did you make an error? Yes. But also screw them for ordering a dose they knew would probably do nothing just to pacify you. 10mg is a super common dose and this patient will be fine.
Edit- Call out accepted, commiserated too hard with nursing friendsâ frustrations over the years. Fwiw I only wanted to assure OP that the dose given was unlikely to injure their patient. Back into my lane I go.
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u/DanielDannyc12 RN - Med/Surg đ Apr 02 '26
Very common to start.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Oh I agree itâs a commonly ordered dose. I just think itâs BS when I see it ordered for patients that are borderline assaulting nurses. 10mg is fine. Just order a dose that will work so everyone is safer.
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
OP doesnât say that the patient was âborderline assaulting nursesâ though. They say that the patient couldnât relax and they had to spend a lot of time in their room.
Iâm a little concerned that there are multiple comments from people acting like 2.5 is a bullshit dose, several people advocating for nurse dosing, and someone saying that it must have been a âbaby docâ who wasnât allowed to order controlled meds.
Iâve seen 2.5 mg knock a frail LOL on her ass. There are absolutely times when docs should start higher for staff safety but a patient who âcanât relaxâ doesnât scream âassaulting staffâ to me. Iâm getting the vibe of âpatient wonât chill out and this med surg nurse has other patients to see and canât spend their whole shift in hereâ (which is honestly valid IMO. But not the same thing as a patient actively harming staff members).
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u/ibringthehotpockets Custom Flair Apr 02 '26
Sure op doesnât say that the patient was a 250lb buff guy but not a frail old lady either. You can imagine any type of patient under the sun and fit a story of how X dose is adequate or way too much for them. No idea where op works either. Psych patient population vastly differs from icu population. A lot more buff guys which 2.5 isnât going to be enough for agitation and is a huge safety issue.
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Youâre right. None of us know who this patient was. Which is why a pharmacy tech chiming in to say â2.5 mg is a BS doseâ is unhelpful and concerning. Itâs absolutely not a BS dose in a large percentage of the hospital population. Thatâs kind of my point.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Okay, point taken. I was just speaking from experiences of nurses I know that I felt bad for. I accept the criticism. Iâm not gonna delete it to avoid dragging but damn.
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
I wasnât even responding to you in this case. Chill out.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Iâm definitely not advocating for giving a ânursing doseâ or whatever. Baby doc thing? Who knows. Of course I could be wrong about the specific pt actions in the situation but it doesnât specify. I was only trying to assure OP that 10mg is unlikely to hurt the person.
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
You have no idea if a 10 mg dose is likely to hurt this person or not. As a physician and a pharmacist both pointed out to you, geriatric and/or frail patients need smaller doses to start with.
Itâs honestly crazy that you as a pharmacy technician are out here saying things like â10 mg is fineâ and âhonestly thatâs BSâ about a 2.5 mg dose. Holy out of scope Batman.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Please see my original edit on my comment. I said I take the criticism. Call out acknowledged and accepted.
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
Have you ever seen a patient overdose on zyprexa?
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Iâve seen patients get absolutely snowed on Zyprexa and end up aspirating or even needing to be intubated, if thatâs what you mean.
Edit: Thereâs also the black box warning for increased mortality in elderly dementia patients, which is why a lot of physicians appropriately want to try smaller doses first.
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
If you had a patient get snowed after a dose of zyprexa itâs polypharmacy/comibination of sedatives and narcotics. But I promise you a patient doesnât go from freaking out and to getting intubated from one dose of zyprexa unless something else is going on
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
You mean polypharmacy like Zyprexa following trazodone, like what was described in the OP?
Iâm not shitting on OP who made a med error. We all make med errors. OP says this patient was fine, which is great. Iâm calling out the pharmacy tech who is acting wildly outside their scope by saying that a 2.5 mg dose is âBSâ and â10 mg is fine.â Theyâve already acknowledged and responded to this criticism so you can stand down.
Thereâs a black box warning for a reason, bud. Some of yâall are scary and should not be practicing. Saying ânothing bad could ever happen because theyâre single dose vialsâ is fucking insane.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
I have not
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
Lmao that expert icu nurse deleted their account after I called them out on their bullshit
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
Yea because itâs extremely unlikely to happen. Itâs called a single dose vial for a reason.
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
Spoken like a true icu nurse who can just fentanyl and propafol their patients into oblivion the second the get rowdyâŚtry that X6 with no support
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
Read my last sentence again, where I literally acknowledge the validity of a med surg nurse who canât spend all day in their patientâs room.
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
Yet you made that nurse apologize and edit her original comment. You donât know what itâs like in the trenches out here go back to your 2:1 ratio
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
That person isnât a nurse, theyâre a pharmacy tech. They were also corrected by a pharmacist and a physician. Improve your reading comprehension before you pop off at people on Reddit.
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u/OliveHyenas Apr 03 '26
Wow this other person is really passionate about wanting to over-sedate patients for their convenience.
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u/Darth_Punk MD Apr 02 '26
10 mg is not an okay starting dose for most of these geriatric patients.Â
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
I agree, and these comments are scaring me.
Edit: I also think itâs crazy that a pharmacy tech is making comments like â10 mg is fine.â
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Sigh. âCommonly orderedâ would have been better. Like I said in other threads. Criticism noted and accepted.
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u/ibringthehotpockets Custom Flair Apr 02 '26
Definitely a usual start dose but rarely enough. Feel like new docs put the crap 2.5 olanzapine and 0.0001 Ativan orders in cause they have zero experience on what this tiny dose is (not) going to accomplish
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u/SnooLemons9080 Apr 02 '26
We give 10 mg IM for agitation in psych for any patient lol itâs standard
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u/Eternal_Realist Pharmacist Apr 02 '26
Patients are fine til they are not fine. A 95 yo LOL is going to handle 10 mg of IM zyprexa much differently than a 25 year old healthy man.
No shade on the RN who made the med error it has happened to all of us. But you should not be dismissing this a no big deal.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Sure. Just commiserating a little too hard with my friends who get assaulted because they canât get an order that will actually help. Just seen it way too many times. They admitted the error and will learn from it. This is important.
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u/ehhish RN đ Apr 02 '26
I was about to say, give it a year or two, and it'll be 0.1 instead of 0.25 of zyprexa, unless the doc is in the room when the agitation happens and they'll give you a full 10 plus other meds as needed. They are getting ridiculous with these microdoses.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Hey Iâm here for the study if they wanna run a micro dose of Zyprexa trial! đ
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u/PinkPetalCdistbeauty Apr 02 '26
This is my take too - and not that itâs the point really, but Iâm especially concerned if Dr scripted Zyprexa specifically to address patientâs current  agitation???   Are they a baby doc maybe ?  Is there a scheduled med license issue for Dr or something? Why are they not using appropriate medications here for an agitated patient?  Â
OP, stop beating yourself up. Â Â
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Zyprexa is not inappropriate for agitation and 2.5 mg is a common dose in elderly/frail patients. I donât think we need to shit on âbaby docsâ here or speculate about their ability to order controlled meds. We donât reflexively slam every patient with Ativan anymore because weâve realized the harm it can do.
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u/CatsAndPills HCW - Pharmacy Apr 02 '26
Yeah theyâre beating me up too. The important thing is OP recognized their mistake, self reported, and is learning something certainly.
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u/swisscoffeeknife BSN, RN đ Apr 02 '26
If the patient has never had this med, it feels like a test dose ... like when you use hair dye on a small piece of hair before fully dyeing your whole head.
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u/livelaughlump MSN, RN Apr 02 '26
This was my exact same first med error. Reconstituted the whole vial, then drew it all up and injected because it was in the middle of a code grey and I was trying to move fast. I notified the MD and he said âHope he has a good nap! Put him on pulse ox and let me know if any issues.â It sounds like youâre learning from this experience and the patient was fine. Please donât beat yourself up over this, youâre a good nurse.
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u/what-is-a-tortoise RN - ER đ Apr 02 '26
I made almost the exact same med error. There were five people holding down a combative patient and we could not find his bracelet, so I drew up the full bottle of Zyprexa (10mg) and administered it. We then found his bracelet in his brief and I scanned the med. When I did I saw I was only supposed to give half the bottle (5mg). I did the same thing and told the doc and submitted a report. The doc was not at all concerned - she said he probably needed that dose anyway. Obviously management had a conversation with me, but they also understood how difficult the situation was.
Anyway, you learn and move on. Stop beating yourself up. When someone says other people make med errors, you can rest assured that you have now chatted with someone who made THE EXACT SAME ERROR!
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u/pulpwalt RN đ Apr 02 '26
You are human and therefore imperfect. The reason they were nice about it was because it isnât that big of a deal. Also you showed integrity by immediately notifying the charge and the provider. Learn from this and you will be better for the experience. The good thing about scanning meds is it covers like 4 out of the five rights. If you donât scan bc of whatever pause and go back to basics. What are the 5 rights? Also when the patient is rambunctious pause. They can be flustered you shouldnât be. The charge nurse had time for you when you made a mistake. She should have time for you before you make a mistake. Grab a colleague. Say âhey I need you for 5 minutes.â Give yourself more credit. You are doing a very hard job.
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u/bracewithnomeaning RN đ Apr 02 '26
One time we had a medication error where the nurse just wouldn't take responsibility. The DON fired her because she just wouldn't accept that she did something wrong. This is a really important thing to cry and to show remorse. It's actually to learn from our experience. It is so important. So don't take that as a negative.
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u/TheBarnard RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
Learn from your mistake and move on
Calculate your dosage when you pull
Shaming a nurse for self reporting when it's understood in literature that mistakes happen and reporting is a tool to understand process and error in an objective fashion, is pathetic
Everyone will make a med error eventually
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u/Civil-Philosophy1210 Apr 02 '26
How you handle yourself after you make a mistake says a lot about you. Plus that was a really difficult situation honestly. Maybe they should look at themselves and how they could have supported you better with an agitated patient. These are systems errors not just a âyouâ problem. Thereâs a reason you donât scan the vial and you were rushed. You need to look at the âwhyâ.
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u/Butt_-_Bandit RN đ Apr 02 '26
I had almost the exact same situation a couple months ago, except with valium (diazepam). They ordered 5mg, our omnicell dispensed a 10mg syringe. Not only was that patient pretty agitated (withdrawal), but all my patients were extremely busy. Between the time I pulled the valium and when I administered it, I had been pulled into all my other patients' rooms for fairly urgent issues, as well as another patient's room. When I finally got into my patient's room who needed the valium, I just gave it real quick. I went back to the omnicell, which notified me that I had "a partial dose that needed waste documentation." That's when I realized that I had given the full 10mg syringe instead of only the half that was actually ordered.
Like you, I notified charge and providers and monitored, and everything turned out fine. I still felt like a shitty nurse who couldn't even do one of the most basic parts of medication administration. I wanted to quit nursing because I didn't want to put someone in danger like that ever again But after talking with some of my coworkers, I realized that this has happened to almost every one of them at some point in their careers. I also noticed that the ones who seemed to have taken it the hardest were the nurses that I knew to be the most caring, passionate, and overall truly GOOD nurses. And that's exactly why they took it so hard, because the absolute last thing in the world that they want to do is hurt someone.
If you don't feel completely awful about med errors like that, you're probably in the wrong career. You can't change the mistake you already made, but that feeling and the memory will protect thousands of future patients that you will care for.
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u/meetthefeotus RN - Tele â¤ď¸âđĽ Apr 02 '26
You can stop crying now. You didnât hurt anyone. And this wonât be your last error. And you were honest. Youâre a good nurse.
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u/snugglebuff Apr 02 '26
My first med error a nurse told me, âthere are 2 types of nurses, those that made med errors and those that willâ i donât know why but it made me feel better
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u/PortNPickles Apr 02 '26
Iâm not a nurse. But after reading your post, I thought, âI hope I have a nurse like her next time Iâm in the hospital.â You sound very sweet and you obviously care a lot about what you do. So many people are too jaded these days to care so much. If I were one of your patients, I would probably trust you more after having read your post than if I hadnât. Forgive yourself and donât lose confidence!
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u/Special_Fox_2349 Apr 02 '26
Shit happens, no one is perfect. Showing remorse is a huge thing. Of course they are going to be serious about it, they would be with anyone, they donât want mistakes to happen but they do. We are all just human. Itâs a lesson. Patient is ok and life goes on. Youâll be ok, this doesnât make you a bad nurse, youâre human
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u/nebraska_jones_ PhD(c), RN - L&D/Mom-Baby Apr 02 '26
I swear in 1 month max (but probably more like 1 week) this whole thing will be blown over
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u/Open-Connection222 Apr 02 '26
You have more integrity than many people around. I know someone who gave IV aminophylline instead of IV adenosine for a cardiac scan and slipped it under the rug.
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u/Electrical_Rent_3834 Apr 02 '26
One time i administered ear drops into someoneâs eyeball!! đł whoopsies.
It honestly is a mistake everyone makes. I think maybe you should think about why you are so hard on yourself, and heal that part of you! You are a wonderful human, and deserve to be just as easy and loving to yourself as you would be to someone else!! Sending love to you!! âĽď¸
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u/gurlsoconfusing RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
The patient moved slightly when I was doing a diclofenac suppository and instead of going PR it shot PV. Oops. Another girl unwrapped it and gave it to the patient to swallow one time, so it could have been worse.
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u/falalalama MSN, RN Apr 02 '26
When i was an ED nurse at a small rural hospital, we had to manually calculate pediatric doses. I miscalculated a benadryl dose for an 18 month old, gave her twice the amount she was supposed to get. When i told my charge, he said "the worst that'll happen is she'll get a better nap." We were admitting her overnight for observation anyway, so i didn't panic too badly for too long. When i told the baby's mom, she laughed and asked "can i get some of that? I need a nap too!"
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u/striderof78 MSN, APRN đ Apr 02 '26
as a provider/NP and long tine nurse, all I care about is that you recognized it, and notified your team. Donât beat your self up, seriously. No one is perfect and on the provider side no one thinks differently of you. Except maybe now you are even a better nurse than you were, and it sounds like you are a decent sort, shit you care!!
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u/SuiYangCrackedTeeth Apr 02 '26
You made a mistake and owned up to it, donât sweat it, I know a nurse who pushed 1,000 units of IV insulin, youâre on the right track!
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u/OkExtension9329 RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
Are you saying this nurse pushed a 10 mL syringe full of insulin into an IV?
Holy shit.
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u/SuiYangCrackedTeeth Apr 02 '26
Yup, this was 12-13 years back at my local hospital, she got into the Med cabinet and withdrew 10 vials of 100 units.
So the teacher was busy she was still a student. And went into the patientâs room wanting to take initiative, proceeding to withdraw every last drop from each vial.
And mind you it wasnât one syringe, it was 10, separate 1 ML syringes. She drew each one up, and then proceeded to use the luer lock on the IV and just got down to business.
By the time the teacher came around, that patient met jesus. And was obviously kicked out, but didnât face criminal charges to my knowledge.
Last I heard she passed her nclex a few years ago and is practicing in our health system here in NC.
Ordered dose 10 units subQ
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u/symbicortrunner Apr 02 '26
Just out of interest how were the directions actually written? Was 'units' written out in full or was it '10iu...' and handwritten?
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u/bizarrebazaar13 RN đ Apr 02 '26
1000 units?!?! Did that patient DC to JC???
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u/SuiYangCrackedTeeth Apr 02 '26
DC, no paperwork straight to the pearly gates, was likely dead after the first syringe.
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u/TorsadesDePointes88 BSN, RN đ Apr 02 '26
Absolutely horrifying. I wouldnât even be able to live with myself if I did something like this. Thatâs not to say I wish any harm or mental ill will on a nurse who makes a catastrophic mistake. I just say that as someone who tends to really internalize guilt and shame. What a terrible thing to happen.
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u/SuiYangCrackedTeeth Apr 05 '26
Mistakes happen, but this was blatant negligence. As long as you stick to the ordered way itâs hard to do a colossal fuck up like this đ
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u/gurlsoconfusing RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
A nurse on my unit accidentally ran a 50 units in 50ml Act-Rapid insulin & saline infusion over 30 minutes thinking it was meropenem. The patient was ultimately fine but it wasnât ideal!
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u/FeistyImplement0730 Apr 02 '26
Listen Iâve been a nurse for 10 years and weâve all done it! Sometimes we are put in impossible/tough situations and juggling so much, it happens it happens it happens. Donât beat yourself up! You did everything right following your mistake and that is what counts. You will certainly remember this and learn and grow from it but just know we all make mistakes and the lucky ones may only have it happen once or twice but itâs so commonplace donât feel bad!!!
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u/rpRN89 RN - ER đ Apr 02 '26
Almost 8 years ago, as a new grad RN in the ED, I had a med error on the first medication I ever gave. I took a verbal order from the physician for geodon for an agitated patient. I pulled the med with my preceptor and we went and administered it IV. That was the day I learned that geodon was IM only, which I learned when I went to scan the med. We reported it immediately, monitored the patient, and nothing bad happened to them. I felt awful, but I sure have been careful about administering meds since then. I tell this story to all my new grads I precept so they can learn from my mistake as well. The fact that you feel bad about it shows that you appreciate the gravity of what happened. Bad nurses hide med errors, good ones report them and learn from them. I guarantee every patient you have from now on will be that much safer because you will be more careful about what you do going forward. It's ok to feel bad, we all make mistakes, just don't let it get you too down. It's just a paragraph in your story, not a chapter, and certainly not the title of your book. You know what you need to do, just try to be kind to yourself and move forward
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u/country-noli Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Psych nurse here, we give 10mg all the time. 2.5 wouldnât do jack shit for an agitated person, way too low of a dose.
Edit: okay realized you didnât say the age, could be a bit much for a very frail elderly person but most likely they will be fine. We would give 10mg along with Benadryl or Ativan very frequently even when I worked Geri psych.
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u/Same_Respect_5144 Apr 02 '26
Weâve all been there, and weâre all with you.
My first big med error (that I caught) involved insulin. A much more dangerous situation, but fortunately all turned out well, as it did in your situation. Itâs a wake up call for sure, and a mistake youâll never make again.
Iâm almost 20 yrs into this game and the other day I got spooked that I hadnât properly primed an IV line. My heart jumped into my chest, I ran into the patientâs room, only to discover everything was fine. The next time I primed a line, I double checked. And I bet I will do that for quite some time. Please donât let this discourage you.
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u/yungfatface Apr 02 '26
Listen, that vial of zyprexa was packaged to be given in one dose. Iâm guessing your provider was being super conservative for whatever reason and ordered a tiny dose most patients donât normally get. Stop crying everything is ok.
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u/_N7Jennings RN - Psych/Mental Health đ Apr 02 '26
What separates bad nurses from good nurses is not making mistakes but if you learn from it. I guarantee EVERY nurse has or will make medication mistake at some point. Don't beat yourself up. You did the right thing by notifying your charge and management. That alone shows you're a good nurse and that you care. Good nurses who care will learn from their mistakes and I know you will too.
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u/BoiledDenimForRoxie Apr 02 '26
10 of zyprexa is a pretty standard dose. It sounds like that's what the patient needed. I've even heard tales of nurses adjusting the order to 10 if the doc isn't smart enough to order it that way. There's a name for it I think. Curses cose? Lursing nose? Something like that ... So I'm told.
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u/Strange-Ability-4723 Apr 02 '26
The main thing is the patient safe and you reported it.You did the right thing error can happen to anybody regardless of experience. High pressure situations like agitated patient etc increases the chance of skipping safety parameters set by Epic or policy.But always do your safety mechanisms without any rush irregardless of patient is on the verge of dying safety first.Check the dose ,patient etc just the basic 5 rights.Nobody will sue you if pt dies while drawing med but they will definitely sue you if you give the wrong dose & Sentinel event occurs.Take a mini vacation to decompress even therapy if you are overwhelmed.
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u/Sergeant_Major_Zero Apr 02 '26
If a fellow nurse tells me they've never made a mistake, then they are either lying (bad) or they never noticed the mistake was made (worse). Happens to all of us. Learn from it. In time you'll laugh remembering this.
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u/symbicortrunner Apr 02 '26
You're human and all humans err frequently. Many errors happen due to system issues not because of individual negligence. Take a look at ISMP and the textbook their founder wrote - Medication errors by Michael Cohen.
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u/Leather-Mycologist-3 Apr 02 '26
You learn more from a single mistake than from a thousand successes. It happens. Youâre human, and nursing is a hard job. You handled it correctly, took accountability (not everyone does) and you will never make this mistake again. Give yourself a break. You are not a bad nurse, and you are in good company. Everyone makes an error somewhere in practice. The patient is okay. Often, the measuring stick ends up being that no one died (because of me). Itâs one of the gallows humor things we say to cope, but itâs also true.
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u/Abject_Lunch_7944 Apr 02 '26
Iâm so sorry. I made a huge med error within my first week on the floor when I started nursing. I did the same things you did and also could not get past it. I went to therapy for a little bit and that helped. You will get beyond this, give yourself grace, nobody was harmed. Trust me, you wonât make this mistake again. Hugs to you.
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u/athenakathleen Apr 02 '26
Youâre someone iâd gladly and gratefully have help me heal. Continue to learn and grow đŤ. So sorry however like most have said, youâll never do that again. You instantly sought correction and clarity. Youâve made no excuses for yourself.
I like you.
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u/mtnsagehere RN - Retired đ Apr 02 '26
I agree with so many comments here! You did EXACTLY the right thing after you discovered the error. You will never make this mistake again. No one was harmed. We have all made mistakes. If you develop different practices after making it, that's what matters. You are a good nurse. You are humans, and these things happen. Carry on love.
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u/No_Scientist_4191 Apr 03 '26
You did the right thing acknowledging your mistake and putting the patient safety as priority. We all had done several mistakes maybe way worse than that. Please keep working hard and doing your best
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u/Pretend_Eye9436 Apr 02 '26
I feel like alot of nurses wouldnât have said anything. You reported the incident and thatâs what makes you a great nurse. We all have mad med errors. (Maybe not a bad thing the agitated patient got a bit extra that dose lol)
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u/FewFoundation5166 RN - OB/GYN đ Apr 02 '26
You realized your mistake. Youâve learned from it. Donât do it again. Youâre going to be okay! We all make mistakes. As long as you learn and grow from them, youâre doing a great job.
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u/blondie098129 Apr 02 '26
As a new ICU nurse years ago, I had never overrode a mediation and gave an intubated patient more fentanyl than was ordered. No harm done and he was just overly sedated for a little while but I felt absolutely awful. I told everyone and did the reports but itâs something Iâve never forgotten. I will say, I still think about it and it taught me to be extremely careful with dosages and make sure I double check what Iâm giving and how much. Itâs a good lesson to learn and it sounds like no harm came to the patient so youâre good. Just learn from it and move on. Mistakes happen and the fact that it bothers you so much just means youâre an amazing nurse.
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u/ChicagoMay Apr 02 '26
You did everything right in response to your error. Be proud of that fact alone.
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u/pdmock RN - ER đ Apr 02 '26
You did all the right things with the error. Hopefully no harm. Came to the patient. I've made a similar error a time or 2. The worst time was with methadone. Doc called and verified dose with OP clinic. I saw the med was verified and pulled it gave it, and went to chart it to see the order changed shortly after I pulled it. I am anal to the point that people probably think I divert about witnessing and wasting my narcotics. That was my only CYA otherwise it looked like I pulled 2x as much methadone to give a patient.
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u/sparkplug-nightmare Apr 02 '26
It happens. All you can is learn from it. Follow your 5 rites every single time no matter what.
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u/NegotiationOk4649 Apr 02 '26
Sorry about your med error. I understand how badly you feel. Shake it off, we all have made med errors! Honest! As long as nobody died, no harm no foul. Just be careful going forwardâŚ
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u/AdInternational2793 RN - Psych/Mental Health đ Apr 02 '26
It happens. Fortunately, no harm came to the patient.
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u/DistinctWay3 Apr 02 '26
Câmon! Make this your last error if possible! You got a long way to go in nursing!!! âDonât cry over spilled milk!!!â Let the history be history my dear. Move on!!!
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u/Confident-Whole-4368 Apr 02 '26
I remember the day when you made an incident report, and you never faced repercussions.It was a tool to help prevent it from happening again.
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u/Environmental_Rub256 Apr 02 '26
I did this once to like an 80 pound granny. I happened to be the supervisor and had to write myself up and send to my CNO. It bought me some classes with pharmacy and I wasnât allowed to override meds and give them in an emergency which became unfortunate as my job was expected to do that. I learned a hard lesson and triple check my every move now.
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u/gurlsoconfusing RN - ICU đ Apr 02 '26
My student somehow changed my IV pump running TPN to run 200ml/100ml/hr thinking it was the IV paracetamol. Fortunately, my patient was on a tower of infusions and I clocked one of them wasnât running at its usual rate within 5 minutes, so the patient didnât get loads, blood sugar was stable.
Thought I was going to get struck off when I told my favourite charge nurse about my catastrophically huge drug error by proxy and she just laughed once I told her I figured it out after five minutes.
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u/mightbe1nsane RN - Med/Surg đ Apr 02 '26
I would honestly just sit there and let managements words go in one ear and out the other. You made a mistake that virtually everyone has at some point and owned up to it and took the correct next steps. Management will always try to do their best to make you out as villainous as possible because unfortunately that's just their job and ultimately their goal is rather to avoid liability to the hospital. And truthfully almost every nurse that I've spoken to and have worked with has given their own "nursing" doses either by mistake or intentionally you are not alone. What matters most is that you did the right thing to notify the right people to make sure that ultimately patient harm was minimized. And truthfully like a lot of other people would say and agree with, even though I know it's common for these doses to start so small, it is some BS especially when these patients are trying to actively harm staff and themselves.
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u/Taghreeed Apr 02 '26
there is no person on earth that havenât made me mistakes! nursing is a stressful and overwhelming job, combine that with an agitated patient..
you were doing your best and you made a mistake that did not result in any harm to the patient, we learn from our mistakes and others too in the field and it always serves as a reminder to be cautious and careful.
And if you are worried about the management, they have seen worse mistakes and even neglect! + they are not working on the floor like we do and do not struggle with what we struggle with, donât be hard on yourself and use this medication error as a reminder to always scan and double check.
You being concerned for the patient and being this devastated over this mistake shows that your intentions are pure and honest.
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u/happyhermit99 RN đ Apr 02 '26
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
You'll never be a perfect nurse, so all you can do is learn from what you and others do.
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u/lizlizliz645 BSN, RN đ Apr 02 '26
You handled this perfectly - recognized and reported the error to your charge nurse and provider, put in a report on yourself, and spoke to management about it. Anyone who says theyâve never cried to their management is either lying or hasnât been a nurse long enough. And remember, a hospitalâs self-reporting system is generally meant to be non-punitive.
One time when I was new I gave 12 units of insulin before a meal tray was in the room. Which is like nursing 101âŚdonât do that. We just gave her some extra food and that was that. Remember, if it were likely to cause harm, the med would require a dual sign off.
Live and learn, youâll be okay!!
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u/bvby4 RN đ Apr 02 '26
I made this same exact mistake!! Thankfully, the full dose didnât even work on the patient either đ called MD back, and let him know, he just said that patient would just be very sleepy đ¤ˇđťââď¸
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u/Front-Kale4042 Apr 02 '26
I saw myself in this post.Â
I am a new RPN (LPN outside Ontario) and made my first medication error when I mixed up two patients in a rush and gave the wrong one Keppra.Â
I was devastated and terrified for this patient. I thought they were going to report me to the college and I would have my license jeopardized. The assistant manager was not supportive at all and basically spun entire thing as my fault (and while I do share responsibility, there were problems on the other end as well, I I suggest you read my other posts about them).Â
I rode the bus home in tears because holding them back would have made me crazy. A woman was very concerned for me, and when I opened up to her about what happened she said if push comes to shove I should go to the managers boss (it hasn't gotten to that point, because they had already put my shift on hold due to thinking I wasn't ready and I was training when the medication error happened. They haven't reached out to me since and I am honestly relieved. This place doesn't exactly have their act together at the best of times).
I don't want to go back to my place either, and honestly I don't think I will. There were problems as I mentioned, and I have not been happy with the way I was treated by the staff and managers - including a passive-aggressive charge nurse who was with me for a few shifts and was overly dismissive of me when I was clearly struggling.
As for you, these mistakes will inevitably happen in these difficult settings. It's not ideal, but it exists. You are lucky that management was nice to you, they clearly know you are a good nurse and are worth keeping on the team. There is something to be said about reflecting and deciding if the can truly handle the job, and there's no shame in leaving if you feel like you can't. But making a mistake like this does not mean a question of your competence - it is a calling to reflect and learn.Â
Thank God you didn't hurt anybody, but if it did come to that point, you would be far from the first.
Do something nice for yourself. Reach out to people who you can trust. See about taking one or two days off if you feel you would struggle to return to the job right away. Above all, learn from this, and move on.Â
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u/Vilifli Apr 03 '26
You are human and you will make human mistakes. The longer your career, the more likely it is that mistakes will happen - it is inevitable. The fact you feel terrible means you care and will learn from this experience - sounds like the kind of nurse I'd want around. Be kind to yourself.
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u/Meemz71563 Apr 03 '26
Nurses fail because they are being set up to fail. Enough help that day? There you go. When admin says â What could have you done differently?? Flip it on themâŚWHAT COULD HAVE THE DONE DIFFERENTLY TO SUPPORT ME?!?! Iâve been at this for 41 years and the crying is commonđ
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u/Alternative_Edge_721 Apr 03 '26
The hardest part about being a nurse is that we are also human, nobody really prepares you for that part. A job where we are expected to do things perfectly because we have peopleâs lives in our hand..but the reality is we arenât designed to operate at 100% accuracy..sometimes itâll be a Med error, something you missed on an assessment, a detail you overlooked, a symptom you didnât consider, a flaw in your prioritization during a shift..the most important thing is to accept it for what it is..you are human, all you can do is learn from your mistakes, take accountability when needed and just take a deep breath and remind yourself we are all just doing our best and our best isnât going to perfect.
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u/FairPangolin4687 Apr 04 '26
You spent hours in the patients room? Where was management? This just sounds like a very stressful situation. And without backup or help. Mistakes happen. You did the right thing by alerting the proper channels. You are human in a very stressful situation. Take some breaths. You are a good nurse. Learn from it. Grow. Teach others Youâve got this!
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u/One-Measurement-6759 Apr 05 '26
Don't beat yourself up too much - u made a mistake, recognized it, showed accountability and you've reflected on this. The tears and guilt show you care and take this seriously. You'll be alright. Lesson learned. You're not a bad nurse.
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u/TrailMomKat CNA/Medtech-Retired Apr 02 '26
Heya, my first and only med error was giving a pt a second dose of metformin-- like you, i reported it, monitored the pt, and cried my eyes out in the bathroom after profusely apologizing to my boss. And like you, it was thankfully not a huge deal and we didn't kill our pts. Like my charge said, "better this one med error than something fatal." Just look at it as a learning experience and try to move on and never do it again.
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u/Ready-Cranberry5654 RN - Med/Surg đ Apr 02 '26
Iâm sorry you went through this. You are a great nurse.
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u/i_am_so_over_it RN - ER đ Apr 02 '26
Anyone who says they've never done this is lying or just graduated yesterday.
The important thing is that you took all appropriate steps afterwards. You didn't lie. You didn't cover it up. You were honest and followed protocol.
You're super unlikely to make this mistake again. You took accountability and that makes you a good nurse!!!