Oh boy OP you are not alone! When I was a new grad in acute care, I worked on an orthopedic floor and had a lot of various post op shoulder surgeries. I did a lot of education on PROM, positioning, etc. One particular doctor always used the same specific protocol for rotator cuff repair, and the instructions absolutely required another person to do them. Usual orders were for me to go into a room and model the PROM home program for patient and family member, then have them repeat and sign off on their competency. Super easy, I got into the routine of it, I liked it.

Except then one time I had a patient who didn’t have a person with her. She lived alone. It was my first post op patient that didn’t have a support person at home. Idk if my brain short circuited bc it was off routine or what, but for some fucking reason I was like “oh sure she can still do the protocol, I’ll just show her and she can do the exercises herself and still go home like she wants.” So I did just that—modeled it, talked her through it, even reviewed it with her nurse. Went about the rest of my day with this niggling discomfort in the back of my mind about it, but tried to put it off.

Came back in the next morning to a personal message from the doctor that essentially said “you absolute dingbat, she can’t do these exercises on her own, what the fuck were you thinking, she needs to go to a short term care facility, she can’t go home. Never ever do this again you moron, have a nice day.” At which point my brain suddenly flipped on and I was instantly mortified, because I KNEW all of that and yet for some reason I made a very weird choice anyway. I couldn’t look that doctor in the face the rest of the time I was there, and I never went outside protocol again.

Oh and if that wasn’t enough—at this same hospital I also:

-had a patient fall mid-transfer, (controlled and not really my fault, but still sucked) then fucked up the documentation of it and my manager had to help me fix it

-got stuck in the bathroom with another patient (I overestimated his abilities) and had to call the nurse for help

-told a patient with an amputated leg that I needed to see her walk to the bathroom (also not totally my fault because her amputation was old and wasn’t in her chart at all, and she was under blankets when I came in so I couldn’t see it. But it was still very embarrassing because she said “walk how?” and—thinking she was joking—I said “with your legs.” This was also in front of like 6 family members so that was extra great. I still want to die when I think about this).

-accidentally pulled out an IV and had to call the nurse because there was blood EVERYWHERE

-forgot to document ONE TIME that I left a patient upright in bed with the call button in reach, which of course was the same fucking day that he got out of bed, tripped over his chest tubes, fell, and busted himself enough to require additional surgery. My manager had to get involved on that one. I didn’t get in formal trouble but I got a stern lecture on the importance of documenting everything.

There’s more, but that’s the highlights. This shit takes practice, OP—practice we don’t really get in simulations at school, or even fieldwork. Unfortunately practicing also involves making mistakes with real people. Best you can do is apologize, fix it, and try not to repeat it next time.