The Most Common Nursing Mistakes

The Most Common Nursing Mistakes 1. Making a medication error This is the biggest mistake and also the most common.. Every nurse now in practice has made at least one, usually without knowing it. This happens often early in practice, as it did with a nurse that double-dosed a patient with metoprolol. Thankfully, the patient wasn’t harmed—he was tense enough about being in the hospital that all the nurse had to do was monitor him closely and be alert for hypotension. Still, it taught a lesson those tripleand quadruple-checking medications—especially when you’re in a hurry—is hugely important.

2. Omitting some sort of treatment or doing it to the wrong part of the body There is no worse order than “apply to affected area TID.” If you’re not aware of what the affected area is, you’ll be left staring at the patient’s apparently intact skin, wondering what to do with that little tube of ointment. Preventing an error requires research into the chart and maybe asking the doctor exactly what is going on.

Or, you’re confronted with a myriad of tubes coming out of somebody’s abdomen, unlabeled, and apparently draining several things within the same three square inches. Which one do you flush? How do you tell? Again, this usually requires either searching the chart for clues or (easier) asking the doctor which tube is which, and labeling them yourself. You’d be amazed at how many surgeons turn patients over to the post-op team without doing a basic thing such as labeling their drains.

Related: Reasons Why You Shouldn't Stay Quiet when it comes to Patient Care 3. Calling a patient by the wrong name To us, it’s nothing more than an embarrassing slip. To the patient, it’s a huge deal: What else has this nurse confused on me? The only thing to do is apologize—profusely—and continue on with such attention to detail that the patient is reassured.

4. Calling a doctor without all the necessary information on hand This is something you learn early on, especially if you start on the night shift. Never call a physician without the chart in front of you and every

single pertinent piece of information about your patient on the tip of your tongue. Especially don’t call the doc at 3 a.m. if you’re not already primed with information and suggestions. Believe me when You do this several times, you will get some major complaints.

5. Making an utter, incomparable fool of yourself in front of patients and colleagues For a colleague of mine who works in public health, it was ending a counseling session with a newly diagnosed HIV+ patient with the words “Stay positive!” For another colleague, it was bad mouthing a member of management within that person’s hearing.

Related: Common Intestinal Disorders Unfortunately, while the first two mistakes can be prevented (think before you speak), the last one can’t. The remedy in that last case is to make sure you’re still fully clothed, brush your hair out of your face and laugh it off.

Remember: No matter the error you’ve made, somebody else has done something worse. If your error hasn’t harmed anyone, the best thing to do about it is report it through the correct channels (error reporting helps change bad processes or confusing protocols) and then keep going. Making a mistake doesn’t make you a bad nurse; it just makes you human.

While nursing mistakes will happen, you can always be sure to take your time, check, and recheck to be sure you have the appropriate items on hand for a procedure. Most facilities have measures in place to avoid medication errors, however don't rely just on that system, always check for yourself to make sure things look right. Use your trusty gut instinct too, rarely does that let you down.

Last of all, if you do make a mistake, own up to it. Everyone makes mistakes, so it will happen at some point. Don't be too hard on yourself, own it, and take it as a lesson learned, being more careful the next time around.

Related: Highly Respected Nurse Patricia B. Shaffer, RN, MS, BS, will be Noted in the Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter