Learning from Mistakes: Opening the floodgates

American Nursing Student
Nursing Center

"When I was in nursing school, I was often nervous when I worked with medical devices such as I.V. pumps. One day, during a medical/surgical clinical rotation, my patient had an I.V. infusion of 0.9% sodium chloride solution running at a keep-vein-open rate. The I.V. pump malfunctioned, and the alarm sounded. I removed the tubing from the pump and tried to figure out what went wrong.

Having no success, I rushed to find my nursing instructor. In my hurry, though, I forgot to clamp the I.V. tubing. When I returned with the nurse, we discovered that the I.V. bag was empty: The remaining solution (75 ml) had run in freely. I followed up on the error and carefully assessed the patient, who luckily wasn't harmed. Now that I'm a nursing instructor, I always teach my students that, if they have a problem with an I.V. line they can't correct, they should clamp the tubing right away, then get help."