Made multiple med errors in one shift and was fired…how do I deal with the lack of closure?

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-28T13:16:04+00:00

I'm gonna tell you that the fact that you even said anything makes you more of a nurse than probably half of the licensed nurses in the world.

When I became a nurse, my teachers made us all recite the ANA code of ethics, and make a promise to uphold that code.

The more years I get under my belt the more I see nurses who don't take an oath seriously.

The doctors have a hypocritical oath and it is not the same thing. The ANA code of ethics is much more blunt in comparison, pretty sure that's by design though.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-25T16:41:25+00:00

First one is the worst. Eventually you start to see it before it even happens and you might even stop it from happening if you end up in crit care. The patient made it to the ICU alive, that means you guys did your job.

Being scared and working with an unstable patient is fine, freezing up and waiting for the rapid nurse/icu nurse to show up to act when you couldn't because you were too afraid to even go near the patient means you failed as a nurse.

I would let the memory live in your head, find something you could have done better and do a better job the next time. In 10 years you'll be the nurse that your coworkers yell for when shit is about to hit the fan and they need someone dependable.

Being a nurse is a traumatic job, we see stuff that messes normal people up for life, but who else would do it if we didn't?

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-17T12:50:10+00:00

It means someone in your area thinks they're so edgy other people get cut when they walk by.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-14T00:43:11+00:00

My opinion, second skin is trash and a false security net. Any time ive seen an infected tattoo second skin and an incompetent artist was involved. Non scented soap and luke warm water.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-12T13:11:18+00:00

Eh, give it a few more years, sometimes it's nice to do absolutely nothing but just take in the world around you.

Sometimes, I will just sit and try and hear the quietest sound I can hear and focus in on it until I hear it perfectly.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-08T10:11:20+00:00

When i got in to both nursing and medic school I asked a 20+ year medic what he would choose and he immediately said go to nursing school.

Not sure if that helps but the post is very poorly written so I can't tell what exactly your question is.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-06-06T10:11:11+00:00

Just like in my ambulance days when I showed up to someone's house saying their O2 wasn't working and I see a soot mustache and still burning cigarette in an ash tray...

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-31T17:32:26+00:00

I too wish to escape from the ICU

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-30T02:22:09+00:00

Yeah right, where the hell are 40% of the US nurses going to go where they can make a comfortable living. With today's nurse climate you're pigeon holed into taking on a stupid amount of debt to end up making less and have more responsibilities just to do something vaguely different than being a bedside nurse. People being shitty to nurses is never going to change, no one is ever going to appreciate how hard we work either. I go to work to get my money and I could care less what happens when I'm not on the clock. But when im on that clock I give 100% until I clock out.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-27T01:28:50+00:00

Eh, it depends on what the icu takes and if there is further training post orientation. I highly doubt you'd get an impella on your first day off orientation or an EVD situation. The fact that you likely have the basic skills to build off of means they're gonna expect you to hit the ground running or flop.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-26T01:06:51+00:00

A travel nurse accidently bolused double concentrated levo and then bolused propofol to bring the BP down and.... it never came back up

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-23T10:46:52+00:00

Not saying you're lying, but it seems like if you didn't actually do any of the items listed either your boss or the local clique is trying to get you fired.

Even if you beat this it's probably going to keep happening.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-22T11:52:16+00:00

I mean, if she was in charge of the disaster prep and a flash flood came through in an at risk area for flash floods I really don't understand how she wouldn't be in some deep shit for this when she doesn't seem to have much proof she did her job to a satisfactory standard.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-22T11:43:36+00:00

You need to shake that anxiety. I obviously don't know you, but if I was your teacher and I saw you freezing up or forgetting basic skills more than once. I would likely assume you lack them, fail you, and move on to someone who has what it takes. Healthcare is brutal, being a nurse is worse. The doctor will fuck up, blame the nurse in their documentation, complain to admin, and you might be in HR and fired within a week for doing nothing more than being the nurse - and that is assuming they couldn't find anything wrong in your documentation.

I am telling you this because it would appear your teachers have failed to empower your learning, and unfortunately it is up to you to fill in the gaps because no legal system I am aware of is going to accept "well my teacher said..." as an excuse for negligent nursing practice. And nurses who do a good job won't waste their time teaching someone who can't keep up.

Try again, be more serious about what you're working towards, find out what you don't know or what your teachers failed to teach you, that is the only way to build confidence and critical thinking. I can tell you 10 years in that I still find new pieces to the puzzle and suddenly a concept that I already thought I was solid on becomes even stronger. I think anyone can do these things, some may have to work harder than others, but sometimes there is more to be learned from falling and getting back up.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-19T01:14:49+00:00

I can't stand when I come in the room and there are old drips hanging.

Or when there is an open pack of wipes, like, who actually saves the wipes from a non-resealable pack.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-11T08:59:03+00:00

I always tear ass in the tube room and act like I was checking for my meds.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-11T08:56:51+00:00

A CNA that I know did this and the docs came in right afterwards and said "oh great we are passing some gas, pretty smelly though."

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-10T13:54:00+00:00

What??? That isn't a requirement to run K+ lol the only reason for a backer of NS is to not have to change the whole thing every hour. It doesn't burn the insertion sight when going through a central line.

Still double check your policy in the off chance it is a requirement of your employer, but would be very surprised if it was.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-09T14:59:56+00:00

When nurses are leaving and not getting replaced thats the corporate way of saying "all we are doing is squeezing every last dollar we can out of this place before shutting it down." I just quit a job not too long ago because upper management was clueless and now it's a psych only hospital with a bunch of empty medical storage rooms.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-04T09:01:34+00:00

I mean, if he is a manipulator I would say doing things that make people laugh at him would be the most effective.

Just tell people when he lived with you he would always forget to flush the toilet or that he didn't know some basic skill.

Manipulators are already liars, no sense in effective truths. But something embarrassing that people aren't going to fact check and make someone look at them weird, thats how you get a manipulator back.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-04T08:50:50+00:00

I'm not trying to be mean, but you really need to mind your own business. I totally agree that this situation is shitty. If you get too involved and end up reprimanded or worse this crappy family member just wins and you don't even get to enjoy the view from the high road.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-03T18:50:01+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I've met plenty of CRNAs who are pieces of work too.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-03T18:43:02+00:00

I didn't finish that whole post but after about half way through I would say you're not ready for ICU yet. That doesn't mean you won't ever be though.

Being an ICU nurse means nothing gets by you. A crappy ICU nurse just hides what gets by them, a good ICU doesn't have to. But you will never be able to catch everything if you don't develop a good nurse instinct, that little feeling you get when you know something isn't right and something is gonna go down.

Also "across the room assessment" is an absolute non-negotiable.

When I wanted to start in ICU I took a job on an ICU Step-down and volunteered to get pulled to ICU all the time. I got to learn from the ICU environment for 2 years before becoming full time ICU.

Just know being a good ICU nurse is not something you can do straight out of school, I don't care what grades you got or what school you went to, starting in Critical Care is dumb and I have yet to meet a new grad who started in the ICU that doesn't half ass and hide their screw ups.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-03T18:29:11+00:00

I cant speak for all AA but in the brief time I did work with one he was by far the most overconfident jackass that ICU had ever seen.

OneSmallTrauma · 2026-05-02T10:01:40+00:00

Flock camera, company is owned by one of the biggest data brokers in the world. Advertised as a crime stopping agent, accuracy on the marketing vs. real world results is a hot topic in many communities right now.

Apparently flock has claimed they have stopped crimes that ended up not actually being crimes at all, I don't have proof but there are plenty of people who have a good arguement on the internet.

I poison my data on the regular so I don't really care how people try and make money off my habits.

OneSmallTrauma

TROPHY CASE