errors, bad, bad, bad

You hear about medical mistakes, doctors and nurses overworked, errors being made, etc.  Put me on the list.  Yesterday was the day from hell at the clinic.  We were understaffed (in my opinion, not management's) and extremely busy.  I arrived at my usual time, my section was full and one of the patients had already been in her chair for 1/2 hour, with nothing done.  The other two were barely started, so I justed pulled on my roller skates and jumped right in.  I never sat down the entire day.  I did have lunch, but that is mandatory and you must go.  Getting someone to watch your patients is the hard part, but I managed.  These are the kind of days that I am in what I call 'constant motion'.  It is hard to think, just act.  It is so busy that if someone has a few seconds to do something for you, they do, or you return the favor.  That can cause confusion as to who did what and was it really done?  The error I made was not life threatening, and easy to fix.  It is just that it should never have happened.  Who was to blame?  Well, it was a comedy of errors that started with the person relieving me for lunch, then me, then pharmacy, even the doctor's orders come into it.  All of us too busy to double check what someone else had done.  I don't want to say what my error was, cuz I was in the nurse manager's office for quite a while, telling her about it and crying.  It doesn't matter to me that it was easy to fix, and no harm done.  It doesn't matter at all!  I told my boss if this is how it's going to be from now on, do more with less, than I will quit.  I am not going to make mistakes cuz I didn't have time to think.  Then she told me I just needed to take more 'time outs' when I get stressed like this.  Sure!  I actually don't have the time to find someone to watch my patients, give them report on what needs to be done, AND go someplace quiet and beat my head against the wall.  Time is the issue!  If I had time to do all that, I wouldn't need a time out.

So, for all of you that have said that I am your hero, and for those that have had bad experiences, and for those that think it's all good......Nurses are human, and make mistakes.  We are not allowed to make mistakes!  It could mean someone's life!  But, we do.  I am not being penalized in any way about this error, cuz I did the right thing by reporting it and making sure it was fixed.  Of course, that took time from my other patient's, which is a whole other story.  This shakes my confidence, hurts my ego, and just makes me feel dam bad!  Thanks for listening!