[olivia]

hi, first time posting and it is also my first time traveling. i am 1000 miles away from home. today was my second day on the job. if one more thing goes wrong i swear i'm going to have a breakdown. i drove a 1000+ miles to get here and it rained the whole way. AAA took me thru every large city in the country. traffic was terrible. 1 day orientation / 2 different units. my self confidence level is way down and on top of all that the toliet is leaking where i'm staying and flooded the kitchen and then tonite at work i gave someone 4 units of humalog based on his ss. well the patient accucheck was 273 3 hours after dinner. evidently his blood sugars have been running high. well, guess what, he's gets accuchecks qid and gets sliding scale insulin onLY tid and -not at hs as i thought he did. the nurse orienting me stated earlier in the shift that he gets lantus routinely and humalog sliding scale but i gave it and i'm responsible. we did a incident report. she was very nice about it and says she will take the blame for it and i told her "no" i'm responsible and she said well "i've been rushing around here like crazy tonite trying to stay on schedule and i was getting panicky
that i was going to get done and should have been paying more attention". so, come tomorrow i will probably be FIRED. I feel sick about it and am scared to death i will be fired. just needed to tell someone and if anyone has any feedback i would appreciate it. thanks olivia

[olivia]

Just wanted to say i checked his blood sugar a couple of hrs later and it was 323 and he seems okay but i told the 3rd shift aides to offer him a snack sometime thru the nite. i ask if we should call the md about error and the orienting nurse stated no....he will be fine....his bs has being high all week. but the bottom line is i did not look at that mar before giving it.

[TracyR]

Hey Olivia...

Don't beat yourself up. Mistakes happen, and be grateful that this one was not more serious.

Just remember next time... The 5 R's :

Right patient, Right drug, Right dose, Right route and the Right time.

Good luck in your travels.

TracyR
www.nurseserver.com

[SCnurse]

I know how scarey a med error can be!! I HATE making a med mistake and it makes me nervous sometimes that I will, so I double and triple check everything!! Take a deep breath and you'll be fine! Take your time and enjoy the sites and sounds of where you are and chalk it up to a learning experience. Nursing can be stressful, much less being in a strange place and strange people. Take it easy! You'll be fine!!

Sara

[bearprn54]

Mistakes happen to everyone and they won't fire you over it unless it is a pattern. I made a mistake one time based on the aides reported valve. Turns out we were talking about two different patients. The pt was a diabetic but the valve was another pts. After that I do my own blood sugars no matter who's job it is. I also try to do a set of vs when I do my first assessment so I know what I am starting with. Just a couple of fyis.

[lost in texas]

Originally Posted by olivia

hi, first time posting and it is also my first time traveling. i am 1000 miles away from home. today was my second day on the job. if one more thing goes wrong i swear i'm going to have a breakdown. i drove a 1000+ miles to get here and it rained the whole way. AAA took me thru every large city in the country. traffic was terrible. 1 day orientation / 2 different units. my self confidence level is way down and on top of all that the toliet is leaking where i'm staying and flooded the kitchen and then tonite at work i gave someone 4 units of humalog based on his ss. well the patient accucheck was 273 3 hours after dinner. evidently his blood sugars have been running high. well, guess what, he's gets accuchecks qid and gets sliding scale insulin onLY tid and -not at hs as i thought he did. the nurse orienting me stated earlier in the shift that he gets lantus routinely and humalog sliding scale but i gave it and i'm responsible. we did a incident report. she was very nice about it and says she will take the blame for it and i told her "no" i'm responsible and she said well "i've been rushing around here like crazy tonite trying to stay on schedule and i was getting panicky
that i was going to get done and should have been paying more attention". so, come tomorrow i will probably be FIRED. I feel sick about it and am scared to death i will be fired. just needed to tell someone and if anyone has any feedback i would appreciate it. thanks olivia

hi olivia,
I GOT ON THE NURSE FORUM TODAY BECAUSE I WAS A LITTLE DEPRESSED AND WANTED TO HEAR WHAT EVERYONE WAS THINKING A TRAVELERS, AND WHEN I READ YOUR NIGHTMARE I ACTUALLY STARTED LAUGH AND CRY BECAUSE YOU STORY IS IDENTICAL TO MINE EXCEPT FOR THE MED ERROR BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE SAME. YOU EVEN WORDED THINGS THE WAY I DO. I DROVE OVER A THOUSAND MILES FROM TEXAS TO SACRAMENTO THEN DOWN TO NEWPORT BEACH WITH LOTS OF HEADACHES ON THE WAY. WHEN I FINALLY GOT HERE THINGS IN MY APARTMENT WERE A MESS AND MY BOXES I HAD SHIPPED HERE TOOK OVER A WEEK TO COME. I GOT LOST ABOUT A THOUSAND TIMES AND JUST CAME HOME IN TEARS WONDERING IF I HAD MADE A BIG MISTAKE. I TO AM A FIRST TIME TRAVELER AND SECOND DAY ON THE JOB THEY WANTED TO FLOAT ME SOMEWHERE ELSE I WAS REALLY PANICKING BUT THINGS WORKED OUT AND I HOPE WILL GO WELL THE REST OF THIS ASSIGNMENT. THE WORST PART IS BEING ALONE AND BORED. MEETING PEOPLE IS NOT AS EASY AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. I SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT ALL YOUR BAD EXPERIENCE BUT I KNOW THAT THEY WON'T ALL BE THAT WAY SO HANG IN THERE.................................BONNIE
P.S. AND THE MED ERROR NOT A BIG DEAL ,THE FACT THAT YOU ARE SO CONCERNED SHOWS WHAT A GOOD NURSE YOU ARE SO I'M SURE YOUR PATIENTS GET EXCELLENT CARE.................LATER BONNIE

[smbrn]

So sorry to hear you're so upset. I agree it probably doesn't look "good" as a first impression to have made a med error but they happen and I would find it awfully hard to believe this could be turned into the kind of thing they would fire you over. You did the right thing; reported it and initiated appropriate monitoring for the patient. I just completed my first "travel" assignment but at a hospital near to where I live so I can't speak to the issues of driving and the substandard condition of your housing. It is extremely hard to jump right into a new facility. As far as floating goes, at my last assignment I floated on my 3rd day off orientation. I wasn't too happy about it but just explained to the nurses on that floor what the story was and they were great about it. Actually, the floor I signed up to work on was so horrible I was glad when I got to float! Good luck. It's not easy. Hope things improve for you soon.