Warned.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Ugh.  What a day.  I’ll be glad when it is a distant memory.

Too bad that won’t be for six months.

I was called by my nurse manager today to “follow up” regarding the med error I made earlier this month.

I kind of knew it wasn’t going to be great considering they needed me to come in.

WHY DO THEY CALL ME LIKE THIS ON MY DAY OFF???

Anyways, so I go in, and find out that …

…even though there were a lot of extenuating circumstances

…such as…different, fast-paced environment (ER), similar patients (age, sex, and complaint), lack of handhelds or computer at bedside (supposedly there are four computer on wheels in the ER to use…which I’ve NEVER seen anyone use at these beds to give meds)…

…even though I took complete responsibility for the error and followed proper protocol, notifying the charge nurse, supervisor, doctor and patient…

…ultimately it came down to checking name band.

And even though my supervisor said she didn’t want to give me a warning because I’ve punished myself more than a warning could…

…they had to go with what they’ve done in the past…

and thus I now have a verbal warning.

I love how you have to sign a VERBAL warning.  Anyone else find that to be a little strange.

So this warning will be active in my file for six months, during which I will not be able to transfer to any other unit of the hospital.

It does not affect any pay raises.

After the six months it becomes inactive but stays in my HR file.

If during this six-month time period anything else happens that would require a warning, I would then get a WRITTEN warning, which stays active for two years and would affect any pay raises.

I’m happy to say I managed not to cry in front of my manager and the clinical coordinator this time.

I signed the warning and left.

And then cried in the car.

Seriously, now I feel like it’s BIG BROTHER at work.

Six months of trying to be perfect now, even though both of them said, “no one is perfect, it could happen to anyone.”

So much for a culture of no blame.

I think I shall work on updating my resume, just in case.

If I sound bitter and upset, well it’s because I am.

I should have known it was going to be a rough day.  Today was Kimm’s MRI (which THANKFULLY she was able to get through at Mercy with the large bore MRI!!!), but before going we had multiple issues…

…the tiny screw from my glasses fell out and I had to search on the floor for it and screw my glasses back together

…Madeline threw up her breakfast

And then, after getting back from the hospital Kimm had to go get her piercings put back in so I was home with Izzy and when Kimm came home, she noticed Izzy’s water bowl was completely empty and then I remembered Izzy going upstairs and then coming downstairs…yep, she had peed upstairs.

We had stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts for a treat after the MRI…Vanilla Bean Oreo Coolatas and donuts…MAJOR stomachache after all that sugar.  NEVER AGAIN.

I was going to make lasagna for dinner, and the ricotta was spoiled…seriously horrible smell I never want to smell again.

See…just one of those days.

I’ll be so glad to go to bed and hopefully forget about this…

BUT…

I can’t truly forget about it.  I need to be on my best behavior and hope that nothing happens in six months.

This truly is extremely stressful. And even though my nursing manager said no one knows about this, I still have to think, SHE knows about it, and I hate to feel like a total loser in front of her.

Okay, I’m done ranting.

Tonight I’m going to read a bit and watch the new Restaurant Impossible.

Tomorrow Kimm has her appointment with the neurosurgeon and hopefully he will be able to recommend something.

Oh yeah, another bad thing that happened today…Kimm’s client’s house buying fell through…the seller refused to fix two major issues found in the inspection report, so now they are starting all over, looking at houses again.

I swear, when it rains, it pours.