Failure to...

Last week I had the pleasure of bringing my learning to the clinical setting (or hospital if you prefer). I was so excited to work with my patients. As a nursing student, the paperwork is grueling and seemingly never ending! Working in the hospital is terrifying yet comforting because your instructor is constantly watching you. Terrifying because you feel tested, and comforting to know that they won't let you do anything unsafe to your patient or yourself. I had done hours upon sleepless hours of research on all of the medications and diagnoses that pertained to my patient. It was the week of "med passing." Med passing is when we are allowed to pop the little pills out of their containers into a cup and tell the patient what we are giving them. Day 1 went by without a hitch. Day 2 was going great until... My instructor said to me "what can you tell me about what you just did when you gave those medications?" My patient had a couple questions about why she was taking certain pills. I answered her to the best of my ability and I thought that was what my instructor was referring to. Though, as my palms grew sweaty, I realized I had no idea why my instructor was asking me this question as she smiled and said "you forgot to check the name on her armband." I had that wave of fear (the one that sometimes makes you think you'll faint or vomit) wash over me from head to toe, but not for the reason you might think! I knew I had done my "3 checks" on the medication, and that I had also reviewed my "6 rights." Right drug, right dose, right route, right time, and I knew I'd do the right documentation, then it hit me "uh-oh" I forgot right patient when I walked in the room. Having been in the room earlier that morning, it totally skipped my mind to make sure she was the same lady I'd seen less than ten minutes ago! As I said before, our instructors are there to make sure we don't actually give the wrong medication to the wrong patient, but I ended up having to write a paper on why it's so important anyway. I am completely aware that administering the wrong medication can result in allergic reaction, or even go as far as to cause death, and I will not forget to check armbands again. What a bummer though, I was doing so good!!! I'm thankful for my instructor's watchfulness, and I will be that much more careful in the future! No more "failure to identify patient prior to medication administration."