Sometimes just hearing someone else’s stories makes you feel better about your own anxiety. Read these nursing mistakes and know that you are not alone.
Real Nursing Mistakes That Actually Happened
Did you just start out as a brand new nurse and feel totally overwhelmed? I was too! There is hope; it does get easier. You’ll get through the tough period where you feel like you don’t know anything.
I want to share just a handful of the many nursing mistakes I made as a new nurse. Read through this list. I bet you’ll relate to almost all of it.
If it makes you feel any better..
I had those mini panic attacks before work.
I freaked out every time I had to call a doctor.
I cried in the bathroom the first time a doctor yelled at me.
I cried after a terrible day in the car on the way home.
I called a patient’s wife his mother.
I took report on the wrong patient.
I had to admit a med error to an attending physician and 4 of her residents.
I accidentally discharged a patient too early and had to call them to go to a clinic to get a follow up BMP drawn after potassium replacement because I misunderstood the physicians order.
I stayed late because I hadn’t charted a word until 1930.
I hid in an unconscious patient’s room just so I could chart in peace and watch Family Guy.
I was terrified when I floated the first time, but it wasn’t so bad.
I froze during my first code.
I farted when I was alone in an elevator and then a doctor got on at the next floor.
I wasted a lot of time doing patient care, getting behind on my charting, because I was too scared to delegate to the tech playing on her phone.
I sprayed tube feeding residual all over myself and my patient because I forgot to flip the stopcock.
I’m still not the best IV starter in the unit three years later, but there’s more to nursing than that.
I still ask questions every single day.
I still fart in elevators.
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Nursing Mistakes Still Happen – We Are Human
I can’t sit here and act like I’ve arrived and I don’t make mistakes anymore. I wish! But nope, I’m human. All nurses make mistakes. We all freeze or spray tube feeding residual on ourselves once in a while.
The most important thing is that you have someone you can laugh with and lean on. Get through these nursing mistakes and grow from them.
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