Medical burnout is a common cause of mistakes in hospitals and doctor’s offices. Professionals working long hours and seeing far too many patients can make mistakes even with years of experience. However, new medical workers have their own risks for making mistakes on the job.
Recently licensed nurses who are still getting used to their new job responsibilities can easily make mistakes that end up costing them their professional licenses. What are some of the common mistakes made by new nurses?
Mistakes with medication can take less than a second to make
Maybe instead of looking at the label on a medication, you identified it by color and shape alone, leading to you giving someone the wrong pills. Perhaps you mixed up IV bags because you were checking the rules for how to update charts properly when administering an IV. Needing to split your attention between the rules of the workplace and the actual job you do can be a form of distraction that leads to dangerous medication mistakes.
Charting errors are easy to make when you don’t understand the process
Keeping detailed, accurate and easy-to-read records of the care a patient has received is a crucial part of nursing. Is also an opportunity to make mistakes. Failing to record information in a patient’s chart might mean they receive medication more often than they should. Putting information in the chart improperly could also lead to treatment errors that have negative implications for the patient.
New nurses could also make mistakes in how they communicate with patients, how they ask for help from other medical staff members and how they practice hygiene and sanitation on the job. If a mistake impacts patient care, that patient, the facility or a co-worker could report the nurse responsible to the state licensing board. Both new and established nurses facing complaints or allegations of improper care or neglect on the job may need to prepare to defend their nursing license.
