The most common mistake that nurses make are errors in administering of medication.
Nurses commonly make mistakes including wrong timing of medication, incorrect medication dosages, or even using wrong medications, which is often a result of heavy workloads, fatigue or even distractions.
Other common errors that nurses make are poor documentation, failing to follow infection control protocols and even failing to seek assistance when they need assistance.
Medication errors, which are the most common mistakes that nurses make are administering the wrong dose of medication, giving the medication at the wrong tine, like in relation to meals, or entirely giving the wrong medication to the patient.
High stress environments and even similar looking drug and medication names can lead to these errors.
Other errors that are common that nurses make include.
Failure to verify information and not double checking patient identifiers or medication concentrations, which are very important and crucial for safety.
Failure to ask for help, as new or overwhelmed nurses may fail to ask other nurses for help, which leads to patient safety risks.
Communication failures and not effectively communicating with doctors, failing to clarify orders or not handing over critical information during changes in the nurses shifts.
Infection control breaches, like failing to adhere strictly to hand hygiene or proper use of personal protective equipment or PPE.
And documentation errors like having incomplete, inaccurate or delayed documentation and not charting in real time is a major issue in nursing.
Nurses can help prevent these common errors by following the "5 Rights", which includes Right patient, right medication, right dose, right route and right time.
Also focusing entirely on the medication pre and not allowing others to distract them, and documenting care as soon as the care is provided to ensure accuracy and managing fatigue and burnout to maintain the nurses mental alertness.
There was also one time a student nurse who put orange juice in a patients IV because their blood sugar was low, the patient was okay, but that was also a mistake.