In the middle of my busy shift, my headnurse summoned me to discuss something important. It is the reprimand letter for the medication error we have committed in June. Being the bedside nurse who gave the Plavix to a patient despite the medicine being discontinued, I am now asked to join the medication reorientation. Although the reprimand was not the hard, the lesson I have learned from this mistake was very traumatizing. I am now going to be extra careful in giving out medications.

I thought it will all end in the submission of incident report regarding the medication error until I got a text from my headnurse. There was a scheduled meeting with the medication error committee. I did not know that there was such a committee and it seems that they would not let us off the hook although there was nothing serious happened to the patient.
We were from the PM shift and we were prioritized among the 9 offenders.
It was the second to be roasted. As expected, it did not go well. We were judged before we could defend ourselves. We were asked to make a correlation between the withholding of Plavix and the left side body weakness of the patient.
It is due to be submitted on Monday.
And yes, we still have to await the sanction for the error that we committed.
Although I did not take full responsibility for the offense, I did not bailout on anyone.

Exactly a week ago when the medication error occurred.
I was on 7 to 3 p.m. schedule then and since I feel indifferent about the outgoing bedside nurse who will endorse the patients that I will be handling, I just did not pay attention to what he was saying.
I made my rounds and gave medications to my patients without any problems.
The nurse who will receive my endorsement was late so I decided not to read the latest orders to her.
The following day, it was night actually, the ever insistent relative of a patient of have undergone heary by pass, was questioning why we are still giving Plavix to the patient when the doctor has told that them that it will be stopped already. We just told her that if the doctor did not write any order about it, we shall still stick to the status quo.
The relative did not stop there so we brushed through the chart and BAM!
The doctor has ordered to hold giving of Plavix on June 19th and the said antiplatelet medicine with generic name of Clopidogrel Bisulfate helps prevent clot formation which is indicated to prevent heart attack or stroke.
It was already June 21st meaning the two doses of Plavix have been given to him. The doctor called in and spoke to the outgoing bedside nurse. He was mad and so frustrated about the incident. Although there was nothing serious happened to the patient, mistakes that could jeopardize the patient’s health.
The following morning, the doctor checked in. He was already calm and just asked if giving of Plavix has been stopped. No further issues to him but our headnurse did not let slide of this medication error that she demanded for an incident report.
I personally learned my lesson here and promised to be extra vigilant in carrying on my duties and responsibilities.