We all make mistakes; it’s just part of being human. But in nursing, these mistakes can have life-or-death consequences. Here are 10 shocking and tragic mistakes that real nurses have made—and advice on how you can avoid the same errors.
Second Glance
A nurse grabbed what he thought was a package of antacids off the supply shelf. In reality, the drug was pancuronium, a powerful paralytic. What started out as an upset stomach turned into complete respiratory failure. The unlucky patient died the next day. The nurse’s excuse for the fatal error? The packaging looked the same for both medications.
Tip:
Always double-check the product label. It only takes a few seconds to avoid this kind of mistake.
Naughty Nurse
There are actually too many stories to count about nurses caught having sex at work. There is one theme that seems to be common, based on anecdotal evidence: If a nurse and a doctor are involved, it’s the nurse who ends up getting fired. Of course, the consequences are even worse if a nurse gets intimate with a patient (or a patient’s spouse). That’s a surefire way to get brought up on ethics charges.
Tip:
Keep a professional distance on the job. If you do pursue a workplace romance, at least don’t engage in dalliances on the actual hospital grounds.
Back Talk
Doctor’s orders don’t trump label instructions. One nurse learned this the hard way after administering a drug intravenously because a doctor told her to. The drug should have been given via intramuscular injection, according to the label. The nurse was disciplined for failing to notify the doctor of this conflict between his instructions and the label directions. It just goes to show that the excuse “I was only following orders” still doesn’t cut it.
Tip: Learn to point out a doctor’s potential errors when necessary—your patients’ lives may depend on it.
Snip Snip
A patient came into the emergency room with facial lacerations. A strip of skin was hanging off his nose, held in place only by a narrow strip of tissue. While the patient was waiting to be stitched up, a nurse decided to clean him up a little. She snipped off the dangling flap of skin to make him look more presentable. The plastic surgeon was, of course, furious when he arrived to find that a straightforward repair would now entail grafting.
Tip:
If you’re not a surgeon, don’t remove any part of a patient’s body! It’s always easier to cut something off than to reattach it.
Up in Flames
A nurse anesthetist administered oxygen during a temporal artery biopsy. This was standard procedure given the patient’s symptoms of low oxygenation. However, the nurse failed to notify the surgeon that the highly combustible gas was now in play. When the surgeon switched on an electrocautery device, the resulting fire burned the patient’s face severely. A jury found the nurse liable for $250,000 in damages.
Tip:
Communication is absolutely critical for proper patient care. Always tell others on your team what you’ve done, what you are doing and what you are about to do so they can adjust their own actions accordingly.
It’s Just Too Much
It only takes one error to ruin a career and a life. A Seattle nurse accidentally administered 1.4 grams of calcium chloride to a pediatric patient. The correct dose was 140 milligrams. Five days later, the baby died. Whether the overdose was to blame is still not certain. However, the nurse was so devastated by guilt over the mistake that she took her own life—making a tragic situation twice as bad.
Tip:
Get help if you start feeling overwhelmed by a mistake that harmed a patient. Hurting yourself is not the answer.
Training Day
A home care nurse switched off a tetraplegic man’s ventilator, leaving the already physically handicapped man with an even greater challenge: severe brain damage. This was not a case of the nurse being an “angel of mercy.” It was an actual mistake caused by ignorance. She simply hadn’t been trained in the proper care of patients on ventilators and thought she was supposed to switch the machine off. Somehow, that’s just as scary as the idea of a nurse doing something like this on purpose!
Tip:
If you aren’t absolutely sure how to operate a piece of equipment, ask for more training from your employer. Don’t accept an assignment if you feel you don’t have the qualifications to do it right.
A Highway Menace
A Pennsylvania nurse fell asleep behind the wheel on the short drive home after her shift was done. She crashed her car and sustained multiple fractures. Thankfully, no one else was injured. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 100,000 auto accidents are caused by sleepy drivers each year. Shift workers (such as nurses) are at especially high risk since they have chronically disrupted sleep patterns.
Tip:
Find an empty on-call room where you can take a nap before you drive home—even if you live close by. Remember that most auto accidents happen close to home.
Social Indiscretions
Doctors, admin workers, and nurses in Great Britain just can’t seem to keep their mouths shut (figuratively speaking) when it comes to social media sites. According to one study, National Health Service (NHS) staff are guilty of discussing sensitive patient information on Facebook about five times per week. HIPAA regulations in the U.S. certainly aren’t keeping the problem in check, either. Far too many nurses make the mistake of posting about work-related issues on Facebook without considering the ramifications for patients.
Tip:
Use Facebook for posting about things that are going on in your non-work life (vacations, kids, hobbies). Don’t use it to update friends and family on the latest patient drama. Never take photos at work to post online.
Check Your GPS
Wrong-site and wrong-patient surgeries are some of the scariest mistakes that can occur in a hospital. Not only does the patient go through an unnecessary procedure that maims a working body part, but then they must endure surgery again on the correct site. No wonder hospitals get sued when this happens! While surgeons are the ones doing the actual operations, nurses can also be partially responsible for these errors. Most hospitals now have a system in place to prevent wrong-site surgeries. However, it relies on everyone actually following the safety steps. Skip one, and mistakes happen.
Tip:
Be a stickler about following the rules. Always double-check the paperwork and the patient’s wristband (to make sure you have the right patient). If you are the OR nurse, be firm about calling the “time out” prior to the procedure to verify that everything is correct.
Excellent info! Also-EVERY nurse should have his or her own malpractice insurance because if there is a lawsuit hospitals and doctors love to throw nurses under that bus! Incredible peace of mind for around $100 per year!
Great read
The article was right on! Hospital administrators are currently putting all staff in the position of potentially making a mistake due to high patient / nurse ratios, no regard for acuity levels and long shifts. If only the ENA and other organizations would acknowledge this fact!
I was really surprised these were so on point. A good read for any nurse, but especially a new one.
Excellent article.
Something that makes it harder to not make mistakes is the way these hospitals are increasing the number of patients a nurse has to take on an assignment while also taking away the help we need. It’s crazy that these patient’s lives are in our hands, yet they have no problem leaving our unit without a secretary or a CNA while one of us has to also be charge nurse for the day. Try not making a mistake with 7 total care patients, the charge phone ringing off the hook, and having to answer all the call bells and unit phone calls!
I love you! Thank you so much, you are my hero! From a fellow nurse
Wow… you simply are amazing. ..
All Nurses; Remember and Know This!
We are not hand maidens and glorified waitresses. We are not the door mat that the doctor stomps on when he is having a bad day. We are the last door that remains between the patient and the System.
We have the power to STOP everything. WE are the last one to prevent the mistake!
Because of me, a child’s airway did not catch on fire because Anesthesia had Oxygen turned on during a tonsillectomy.
Because of me, a man in a coma did not receive brain surgery because I demanded to look at the labs while the surgeon screamed at me to take the pt to the O.R.. the glucose was 800.
Because of me, a teenager only got a nick in his finger instead of a wrong site finger surgery.
Because of me, a baby did not get the wrong ear worked on.
Because of me demanding an xray, the doctor had to come back and re-open the wound to pull out a sponge that he left behind the liver. I got screamed at by the Surgeon for not being able to count that day, but I stood my ground that a sponge was lost. The patient lived without complications.
Because of me an infant did not get surgery on the wrong side of his brain. I got screamed at for being stupid and not being able to read an xray, but afterward, the doctor thanked me over and over.
Because of me, an adult did not get the wrong knee replaced ( looked in the window of another room and saw they had the wrong leg prepped and ready).
Because of me, a patient did not get a quadruple dose of Digoxin by a Student Nurse just because I saw her walking into the pt room with a 10cc syringe instead of a 1cc syringe.
Nurses, you are the last wall between the System and the Patient. You must not cower down when you think something is wrong. STOP the system and clarify. It doesn’t matter that someone my scream at you and your feelings might get hurt.
The patient will still be alive tomorrow.
The mark of a TRUE nurse!!! Bravo to you for NOT kowtowing to doctors!! You know your stuff, lady!!!!
Wow you hit all the right ones too.
As an RN for 15 yrs followed by licensure as a Risk Mgr for another 15 yrs, I have seen so many nurse errors result in pt injury and death, I learned that in a hospital setting, there are so many systems which can go wrong,that it is never just one mistake or one nurse that bears responsibility. Many times,there were at least 3 main root causes found when the root cause analysis was completed after a sentinel event occurred. Changes to environmental issues,equipment,and other relatively simple “fixes” worked to eliminate or at least severely decrease the opportunity for the same errors to occur again. So…nurses, listen when your Risk Manager gives you information which may seem boring at the time and you think it will never apply to you. It can happen to the best of us. You became a nurse to help others, and that includes each other! Not only do you not want to be the target of a malpractice lawsuit,even more importantly, you will know you are practicing safely and protecting your patients.
Excellent article —–Biggest nurse mistakes. Bad things can happen too quickly without carefully thinking about what you are doing.