My mistake I didn’t learn fully till I was an RN….note to self…always take the chart with you when you pull out the meds and administer them, and always triple check. PLUS…always ask the patient for their name and birthdate. Might seem simple and annoying, but it will definately help to decrease med errors! I placed nitropaste on the wrong patient my second week of being a nurse!
1. Becoming a student nurse and giving up architecture.
2. Thinking changing things was/is going to be easy.
3. Not sure if this happened or not, but it is my unknowing that bothers me – as a student I didn’t learn (was never taught?) enough about drugs in psychiatry (as a Registered Mental Nurse it’s usually pretty important). Soon after qualifying I was giving out IMI depot (long acting) medications including Zuclopenthixol Decanoate (Clopixol) – couple months later I was was introduced to Zuclopenthixol Acetate – the rapid trajnx version of Clopixol. I have no idea to this day how many pts may have got the Acetate version before I knew there were two different preparations.
I’ve also heard of the student nurse who injected salbutamol rather than put it in the nebuliser. Pt died – student failed.
For me as a nursing student with one semester left I feel that worst mistake is covering a topic testing well and never looking at it again. In nursing you learn the basics and everything runs from there. If you don’t know one thing most likely you won’t be able to put together the “big picture” in the end and thats what nursing is about. Review Review and review some more.
I had a nursing student once who drew up 3cc of insulin instead of 3 units – could have been lethal, but it was caught when they did a double check. Always good to double check high risk meds and meds you are unsure of!
I put a needle into a normal saline bag put in half timentin, and then changed the needle and it went all over the place…right in front of the facilitator, who said that i wasted about $50 of drug.
not learning time management. or rather nursing clinical instructors impressing the importance of time management.
it’s a cold slap in the face when you get out on the floor on your own and you have 5 patients and you have to have assessments in and meds given and admissions and you have no time management skills.
The picture of Nurse Jackie with the needle reminded me of the nurse in Chickasha, Okla. who was caught by the Okla. FBI for lethally injecting over 45 people at her hospital. She was Oklahoma’s biggest serial killer besides Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.
There are college prgorams in the US that allow people with an existing bachelors degree to take an accelerated BSN program. To apply you generally need to have first completed science prereqs that nursing students must take. These are usually chemistry and related courses. Each school might have a slightly different schedule so check with them. You do not have to take the prereqs at the school you wish to attend for your BSN, you can do this at any college near you and just send in the transcripts. If you did not graduate from a science-related major, this can take some time to complete. Once that’s done and you’ve been accepted, you’re qualified to take nursing specific coursework for the major, and that is all you have to take. You do not have to take irrelevant courses such as history, art, etc, ever again. Normally you can graduate in 1 to 2 years with a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing)If you’re a foreign student you will have to take the TOEFL, this is standard policy. You would not need to take SATs and for a bachelor program do not need to take GREs. If you had a decent GPA in your bachelor program that is all that matters.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:12 am
My mistake I didn’t learn fully till I was an RN….note to self…always take the chart with you when you pull out the meds and administer them, and always triple check. PLUS…always ask the patient for their name and birthdate. Might seem simple and annoying, but it will definately help to decrease med errors! I placed nitropaste on the wrong patient my second week of being a nurse!
January 16th, 2008 at 4:10 am
1. Becoming a student nurse and giving up architecture.
2. Thinking changing things was/is going to be easy.
3. Not sure if this happened or not, but it is my unknowing that bothers me – as a student I didn’t learn (was never taught?) enough about drugs in psychiatry (as a Registered Mental Nurse it’s usually pretty important). Soon after qualifying I was giving out IMI depot (long acting) medications including Zuclopenthixol Decanoate (Clopixol) – couple months later I was was introduced to Zuclopenthixol Acetate – the rapid trajnx version of Clopixol. I have no idea to this day how many pts may have got the Acetate version before I knew there were two different preparations.
I’ve also heard of the student nurse who injected salbutamol rather than put it in the nebuliser. Pt died – student failed.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:56 am
For me as a nursing student with one semester left I feel that worst mistake is covering a topic testing well and never looking at it again. In nursing you learn the basics and everything runs from there. If you don’t know one thing most likely you won’t be able to put together the “big picture” in the end and thats what nursing is about. Review Review and review some more.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I had a nursing student once who drew up 3cc of insulin instead of 3 units – could have been lethal, but it was caught when they did a double check. Always good to double check high risk meds and meds you are unsure of!
January 17th, 2008 at 3:19 am
I put a needle into a normal saline bag put in half timentin, and then changed the needle and it went all over the place…right in front of the facilitator, who said that i wasted about $50 of drug.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
not learning time management. or rather nursing clinical instructors impressing the importance of time management.
it’s a cold slap in the face when you get out on the floor on your own and you have 5 patients and you have to have assessments in and meds given and admissions and you have no time management skills.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 pm
i agree…time management and prioritization are high qualities u should learn asap!
January 8th, 2009 at 2:10 am
what are the common errors of student nurses in the special area?
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:51 am
The picture of Nurse Jackie with the needle reminded me of the nurse in Chickasha, Okla. who was caught by the Okla. FBI for lethally injecting over 45 people at her hospital. She was Oklahoma’s biggest serial killer besides Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.
May 13th, 2012 at 2:37 am
There are college prgorams in the US that allow people with an existing bachelors degree to take an accelerated BSN program. To apply you generally need to have first completed science prereqs that nursing students must take. These are usually chemistry and related courses. Each school might have a slightly different schedule so check with them. You do not have to take the prereqs at the school you wish to attend for your BSN, you can do this at any college near you and just send in the transcripts. If you did not graduate from a science-related major, this can take some time to complete. Once that’s done and you’ve been accepted, you’re qualified to take nursing specific coursework for the major, and that is all you have to take. You do not have to take irrelevant courses such as history, art, etc, ever again. Normally you can graduate in 1 to 2 years with a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing)If you’re a foreign student you will have to take the TOEFL, this is standard policy. You would not need to take SATs and for a bachelor program do not need to take GREs. If you had a decent GPA in your bachelor program that is all that matters.