Mistake at work...how to get over it?

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yann

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Hi all,

Today I made a big mistake at work. Gave a diabetic cat the wrong type of insulin. Lantus instead of Humurin. 8 units. Correct dosage, wrong insulin. I feel completely utterly stupid and incompetent and the only reason I am not ready to shoot myself in the head is because the diabetic cat is alright. His BG went down, but still a healthy range. My manager and the head vet considered firing me, but they decided not to..I don't know what the sentence will be until tomorrow when I go to work because they had already gone home (it was around 730pm) today.

I just want the cat to be okay, so a probation or getting written up isn't a big deal to me. I'll get over it. But this experience has completely sunk me down to a place where I just want to hide in a corner and repeat to myself "I'm not good enough I'm not good enough I'm not good enough". Sure I've made a couple mistakes at work before, but never anything that endangered the life of the animal. I thought I was always careful and thorough when it came to anything that would hurt an animal. I feel like I am in no shape to even think of applying to vet schools this year, let alone someday becoming a vet. How do I get over this funk??

I really hope I don't cry tomorrow in front of my boss. Hate crying in public, especially in such a vulnerable state. Bleh.

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been in a similar situation as you...once i gave a second dose of rimadyl to a dog after surgery who had already gotten it earlier...so it got double the dose of an NSAID.

3 years later, after years of working in the field, (and this is last week btw), i accidentally cut a cat's skin while removing a catheter (i was using bandage scissors).

in hind sight, the cat that you gave the wrong insulin to will probably be OK. i know you feel like you're incompetent, etc. but the best thing you can do is to continue on and just work hard. don't let if affect your attitude or how hard you work -- show the vets/co-workers that you aren't letting this affect you. just be more cautious next time, learn to double check dosages/what you're giving.

i think you just need to continue on like you were doing before! if you show the people at work that you are letting this incident influence you in a negative way, that's not good.

if it makes you feel any better...there were recent inidents at my clinic where a dog got 10x the amount of metacam tat it was supposed to get and a cat's catheter basically got sucked up into it's arm when the tech was taking it out...these people are still well respected where i work and they got through it by showing that they weren't going to let what happened affect them negatively.

good luck! :luck: :thumbup:
 
If you honestly expect to get through your career, let alone a full week, without making some variety of mistake (big or small), you're going to have a lot of miserable days.

It's going to happen regardless of your proficiency, experience or good intentions.

On a busy day at work, I'd guess that I do about 5000 specific individual tasks. If I mess up ten things (hopefully insignificant ones), I'm still batting .998 for the day.

Equally, there does need to be consequence for significant mistakes, but a good boss will recognize that accidents happen in a fast-paced, high volume and detail oriented work day.

If you need some context, read this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=835025&highlight=stupid+things+i%27ve+done
 
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I agree with DSMoody on all counts (surprise!). Everyone is human--we all make mistakes--and I guarantee you that every vet you have ever (or will ever) meet has their own "bone pile" of animals who died due to that vet's actions (or inactions).

It's a sad reality but it's true. Nobody is perfect! I am in great fear of when/how I will kill a patient for the first time--it is something I dread and try to avoid at all costs, but I am equally sure that, one day, it will happen.

The cat will be/is just fine.

And your boss should DEFINITELY not even THINK of firing you, IMHO!!! if they do--count your lucky stars that you don't work for them anymore. It is extremely short-sighted to fire an otherwise great employee for this.

This is also great for your application and interviews, btw. :) Keep working on the packet--don't worry; you belong!

Best of luck!!
 
One thing to add, even though I think Alliecat and DSMoody pretty much nailed it.

Somewhere down the road somebody right next to you is going to make a similar mistake, or worse. Remember how you felt. Don't be the person that makes them feel even worse than they (likely) already do.
 
I've seen a tech give all the right medications to the wrong cat at the emergency clinic I worked at...luckily the cat was just fine. I myself accidentally killed a songbird at a wildlife rehab centre. You never really get over a mistake like that, but in a way I think that is a good thing as I am always careful never to make the same mistakes again and am always trying to prevent others from making similar mistakes. It's hard, but no one is perfect.
 
**** happens dude. You can't beat yourself up. I have almost killed a dog by not flushing the fluid line out of air bubbles before I gave them IV... had to give it epinephrine and it had tachycardia for about half the rest of the day... I've never been more scared, and luckily in my case, the doctors weren't there yet and didn't find out about my mistake. But it's something I'll never do again. Learn from it, take your punishment, and move on.
 
Here's a good one that will make you feel better...
I gave a cat an extra dosage of Metacam post sx when he got one pre sx, and it was my own fault for not recording the first dose and it was a crazy day. Sidenote, metacam is not approved for kitties but at that time my vet was still using it.
Epic fail, but I am still here... and going strong!
You will undoubtedly make mistakes so buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Oh and the cat lived.
 
I gave a diabetic dog his insulin because I was the last tech there, only to realize 30 seconds later that one of the technicians that had already left gave him insulin as well. He was monitored overnight and ended up being fine. I admitted to my mistake immediately, and when the owners picked him up from boarding I had to talk to them about what happened and assure them that it was a mistake that I had learned a great deal from. I did cry in front of the vets I worked for, because I left like a failure. It was the first major mistake I had made in the 3 years I had been teching. Fortunately, the doctors I worked with were amazing people and told me about their mistakes to make sure that I understand that it doesn't mean I can't be a good vet just because I've made a mistake.

The best thing you can do with any experience; good, bad, or anywhere in between, is to learn from it so that when a similar occurrance presents itself, you have an idea of what to (or not to) do.

Point being...it's not the end of the world and I agree that if you get fired over it, the head of the practice you work for is very short sighted.
 
Amen to everyone else.

Mistakes happen to everyone... what matters is how you respond to the mistake. This should prompt you to re-evaluate your attitude at work, make sure that you're focused and paying attention as you draw up and administer drugs, etc. And yes, it's normal for it to also make you want to give up... but you need to be able to fight that and move past it. (And if you can't, that's okay.... at least you're realizing that now instead of after investing four years into vet school.)

I lost my first anesthetic patient after four years out in practice. It was a seemingly healthy kitten - she did great through surgery (a routine spay), was doing great in recovery until she was extubated, then went into our recovery area with a vet assistant monitoring. Two or three minutes later, the assistant rushed her to me and told me she wasn't breathing. I tried CPR, but she was gone. Total shock. I cried for a good 15 minutes before I could balls up and call the owner, and still felt weak and shaky for the rest of the day... but there were patients to see, so I had to move on and keep working. We did a necropsy on the cat and sent samples off to the state diagnostic lab.... The pathologist couldn't find any evidence of underlying heart disease etc, so it was just one of those "it happens" sort of things. Totally shook my confidence and definitely made me wonder if I should leave private practice. But I didn't.... we made some changes in our drug dosing and anesthetic monitoring and moved on. Here I am, two years later, still truckin'.

You're going to make mistakes. There's not a single night that I don't lay awake in bed second-guessing SOMETHING I did that day. (Yesterday's example? A cat went home and was licking his incision excessively after a neuter... the owner called back and was very angry that she had to come back to get an e-collar, then the receptionist implied that I was mean for not sending the cat home on pain meds. I've never routinely sent home e-collars with a cat neuter and I've never done more than a single injection of post-op Metacam in a cat neuter. Maybe I should start? Probably not, but debating that kept me up for most of the night.) All of the second-guessing is probably one of the more stressful aspects of being a veterinarian.... my mind is almost ALWAYS on work, either thinking about a case I'm dealing with or a case I could have handled differently. It's part of the job. Not a fun part, but part of it nonetheless.
 
Hi all,

My manager and the head vet considered firing me, but they decided not to..I don't know what the sentence will be until tomorrow when I go to work because they had already gone home (it was around 730pm) today.

Firstly I want to say that would be super crappy of your boss to fire you!!! And trust me, we've ALL been there - probably especially with insulin! Everyone makes mistakes and you can almost certainly say that every single one of us here will contribute to the death of an animal that shouldn't have died. That sucks - and you should NEVER be ok with that - but learning to function with that and still take the risks and still practice takes experience, and confidence that comes with that experience. And a supportive work environment (which im not sure you have?!)

**** happens dude. You can't beat yourself up. I have almost killed a dog by not flushing the fluid line out of air bubbles before I gave them IV... had to give it epinephrine and it had tachycardia for about half the rest of the day... I've never been more scared, and luckily in my case, the doctors weren't there yet and didn't find out about my mistake. But it's something I'll never do again. Learn from it, take your punishment, and move on.

I hope you dont take this as me picking on you or anything Libster, but I wanted to highlight this quote as kind of what not to do. If you make a mistake, DO NOT cover it up. TELL THE VET. Even if it appears fine, please please please please TELL SOMEONE. Most of the time people are understanding and nice, and if something unexplained goes wrong later, you really dont want to have to tell them then "oh, i made this mistake but i was pretty sure i fixed it." That probably will get you fired, and puts the patient at even more risk than your mistake did. At the end of the day, we are all here for the animals - and you have to put that above how you might feel if someone yells at you.

I've been really lucky to work in (generally) really supportive environments where I've always been encouraged to admit mistakes and strive for best practice. And its an environment I hope to foster when I'm a vet - because i think its really, really important!
 
Ugh. That feeling when you make a mistake is the worst. I once mixed up pre-meds for two black cats, but they were pretty close in weight so it wasn't a huge deal. I still remember feeling like a ****** the rest of the day, though. I was so freaked out about making another mistake that I was constantly stumbling over my own feet with everything. Finally one of the vets (one that I was closer to) pulled me aside and asked me what was up. He was very supportive and understanding.

I think that whole experience just emphasized how important a 'support system' at the hospital is. I can't imagine not having someone I can go to/count on and being afraid to mess up the whole time. It really blows that your boss was threatening to fire you. If you do stay, I hope that doesn't set the tone for the rest of your job.

I hate crying in public too :( I find that it helps if I get it all out in a private place, first.
 
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I have almost killed a dog by not flushing the fluid line out of air bubbles before I gave them IV... had to give it epinephrine and it had tachycardia for about half the rest of the day... I've never been more scared, and luckily in my case, the doctors weren't there yet and didn't find out about my mistake.


Not to sidetrack the discussion, but if the doctors weren't there yet, who decided to give the dog epinephrine?

Not a treatment that makes sense for a suspected air embolus, at least as far as I'm aware.
 
Not to sidetrack the discussion, but if the doctors weren't there yet, who decided to give the dog epinephrine?

Not a treatment that makes sense for a suspected air embolus, at least as far as I'm aware.

It would explain the tachycardia, though...

Seriously, though, everyone makes mistakes. It is a lot easier and reflects better on you as a person to own up to them and, more importantly, to learn from them.

My worst experience ever when I worked as a tech was when we had a mean-as-hellfire, 20-year-old geriatric raisin-cat in renal failure come in on emergency. We restrained it to get blood, and the cat freaked out, had a vagal episode, and DIED. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. The owner wasn't exactly surprised, and there probably wasn't anything we could have done better, but... yeah. **** happens. It's why veterinary medicine is called a "practice".
 
My manager and the head vet considered firing me, but they decided not to..

They would probably be better off to evaluate their system for administering drugs and seeing if there are any changes they should make to reduce future errors. Using things like information technology, checklists, barcoding and training has been pretty successful at decreasing certain types of medical errors. Firing someone over one mistake usually doesn't fix the underlying problem.
 
A late thought:

Things that help a lot in avoiding medication mistakes, (generally learned the hard way):

- If the doctor verbally calls for medication, always repeat it back with the patients name. " Ok, point-three prednisone IM for Fifi." If you misheard the dose, were not thinking of the correct patient, or jumped a decimal point, they'll notice even if you didn't. Or, if they made a calculation error, sometimes they hear the discrepancy on the call back.

- If a written dosage isn't crystal clear to you on a treatment sheet or an estimate, run it by someone else. I still do this, even if I'm 99.9 % sure I'm correct.

- Always have a second person double check your dosages. Even if it's a calculation you've done 500 times, or one you've memorized.

The basic premise is to always involve other people as a safeguard against accidents. It's exponentially less likely that two people are going to make the same dumb mistake at exactly the same time.
 
A late thought:

Things that help a lot in avoiding medication mistakes, (generally learned the hard way):

- If the doctor verbally calls for medication, always repeat it back with the patients name. " Ok, point-three prednisone IM for Fifi." If you misheard the dose, were not thinking of the correct patient, or jumped a decimal point, they'll notice even if you didn't. Or, if they made a calculation error, sometimes they hear the discrepancy on the call back.

- If a written dosage isn't crystal clear to you on a treatment sheet or an estimate, run it by someone else. I still do this, even if I'm 99.9 % sure I'm correct.

- Always have a second person double check your dosages. Even if it's a calculation you've done 500 times, or one you've memorized.

The basic premise is to always involve other people as a safeguard against accidents. It's exponentially less likely that two people are going to make the same dumb mistake at exactly the same time.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

you hit it right on dsmoody.

the metacam overdose incident i referenced earlier where a dog got 10x the amount metacam it was supposed to post surgery was because the tech misheard what the vet was telling her (something like the dog was supposed to get .25 mg and got 2.5 mg or something like that)...

whenever a new drug is added to a patient's treatment regiment or anything is unclear i ALWAYS double check with the vet...i'm sure it gets annoying, but better to be safe than sorry.

trust me you'll make mistakes as you go (it's inevitable really) and the only thing you can do is learn from them and try not to make the same mistakes again :)
 
Fortunately, the only medical error I've made today date was giving a dog a cat FVRCP vaccination in stead of a DHLPP!

I was volunteering at a vaccine clinic to get some hands on experience and it was insane! It was literally a completely unorganized circus act. Anyway, one of the shelter staff decided halfway through the day that she didn't like where the dog and cat vaccinations were and switched them around without telling anybody.

I grabbed the wrong injection for the next animal and that was that. When the animal's paperwork made it's way through the final checker, she started screaming like crazy.

I was so upset it rattled me for the rest of the day. It didn't help that the technician on duty pretty much tried her best to make me feel terrible by telling me every possible deadly side effect this dog *could* face.

I learned an important lesson though. Always check and double check all meds before administering.
 
I learned an important lesson, and that is what I will pick up on from this mistake I made; not the negativity of feeling like a failure or being looked at as incompetent. I learned that I cannot stress enough how important double, tripping checking is; the attitude I should keep, and the kind of vet/boss I would want to be when I'm at a higher position. Thank you all so much, all the messages I received here really helped me through.

I got my sentence today..probation for 2 weeks. I really envy some of your supportive environment at your workplace. A good friend and colleague of mine quit a couple weeks ago because of the lack of support she received and the way she was treated by our boss, the manager LVT. She was amazing at her job, and the kindest sweetest lady you'd ever meet. But she was a single mom with a 12 yr old son. My hospital is the kind of place where there is absolutely no consideration for pregnant employees, they are treated as a liability, and no consideration for employees with children. It's the kind of environment where being pregnant is bad news, one little mistake will give them a good reason to fire you, and you are expected to prioritize your job no matter what, even when you're a single parent and your child is sick with fever. Neither am I pregnant nor do I have a child so I've never been treated in such an unfair way, but having to watch my friend leave because of this left me with a bitter attitude towards my boss, and the people who support and practice the negative environment here.

So..to sum it all up, 1. I will never let myself make the same mistake again. 2. I will not let this affect my work productivity or confidence, and 3. I will be the kind of vet who will encourage positive reinforcement and support my employees when they fu*k up. Like someone here said, I should remember exactly how I felt yesterday and today and probably for the next couple weeks when something like this happens to someone else and I am the one in charge.

Now off to writing my PS about how I screwed up at work!
 
Now off to writing my PS about how I screwed up at work!

I'm so sorry about what happened. Probation seems a little extreme...but your workplace sounds a little extreme too. Really though, let this inspire you. Mistakes are what make us human and I'm sure adcoms will be receptive to admitting mistakes especially when you learn something from it.

I don't think I've ever made a memorable treatment mistake, but I will share with you my workplace terror story. I had just started working as a kennel tecnician at the hospital that I currently work at, and I was closing up shop. I was walking the boarding dogs for the last time in the day when the dog I was walking, a little Schipperke, slipped his lead.

Our eyes met for one second and then that little black dog was across the yard and into the road in a half second. I ran in front of cars--gosh, I stopped traffic with my body to protect that little escapee. Luckily, two cars and a police officer stopped to help me and we trapped the little guy in a nearby ally. I thought I was going to be arrested for creating havoc in the streets, but I was more worried about losing my job. I was so gosh darn relieved that we were lucky enough to come out unscathed. Anywho, I survived, the Schipperke survived, and I have never, ever, EVER let a dog get off leash outside again.
 
Your hospital has people walking patients in an unfenced area? That's just asking for problems.

That's what I was talking about earlier about having safety systems in place. Dogs get off leashes. People miscalculate doses. People get patients confused with other patients. These things are going to happen as sure as the sun comes up. The way to deal with this is not to punish everyone that makes a mistake, but to have redundent systems in place to minimize the risk that a single mistake will harm a patient.

So for example, the policy is to only walk dogs on a leash inside a secure fenced area. Every now and then a dog is going to get off a leash. Every now and then someone is going to forget to close a gate. But the chance of a dog getting off a leash at the same time someone forgets to close the gate is much, much less than just one or the other happening.

Same as the chance of two different people miscalculating a dose at the same time is much less than one person making that mistake.
 
the last clinic i worked at had a rule that they would not fire employees for mistakes. Although I'm sure if you made a lot of them the would eventually. The point being that if one of the employees made a huge mistake such as giving insulin wrong, the employee would know they could report it without their job being on the line. Point being that they wanted their staff to tell them if something went wrong so that they could address the issue and help the patient. They would however fire you on the spot if you made a mistake and tried to cover it up or didn't tell the vet.
 
the last clinic i worked at had a rule that they would not fire employees for mistakes. Although I'm sure if you made a lot of them the would eventually. The point being that if one of the employees made a huge mistake such as giving insulin wrong, the employee would know they could report it without their job being on the line. Point being that they wanted their staff to tell them if something went wrong so that they could address the issue and help the patient. They would however fire you on the spot if you made a mistake and tried to cover it up or didn't tell the vet.
:thumbup:
When will people finally realize the coverup is almost always worse than the crime?
 
the last clinic i worked at had a rule that they would not fire employees for mistakes. Although I'm sure if you made a lot of them the would eventually. The point being that if one of the employees made a huge mistake such as giving insulin wrong, the employee would know they could report it without their job being on the line. Point being that they wanted their staff to tell them if something went wrong so that they could address the issue and help the patient. They would however fire you on the spot if you made a mistake and tried to cover it up or didn't tell the vet.

:thumbup:
A good portion of the time a mistake can be fixed/dealt with if it's reported. People make mistakes, indirectly encouraging them to lie/cover it up by threatening their job security is not in the best interests of the patient. OP, you should be proud of yourself for being strong enough to report your mistake, knowing it could cost you your job.
 
Not to sidetrack the discussion, but if the doctors weren't there yet, who decided to give the dog epinephrine?

Not a treatment that makes sense for a suspected air embolus, at least as far as I'm aware.

I dunno it was one of the other techs. I stand corrected, it was norepinephrine (if that makes a difference) and I think the reason she gave it was to revive the patient, as she had crashed on the table within seconds of starting the IV fluids. I don't know if that's right or wrong, although I was pretty floored at the cojones she had to use norepinephrine on a patient without a doctor's consent/advice...
 
Your hospital has people walking patients in an unfenced area? That's just asking for problems.
Sometimes you just don't get an option. The clinic I've spent most of my time at is in the middle of a strip mall - parking lot out the front door, parking lot out the back door. No way to fence anything.

Not every problem has a perfect solution. Sometimes you just make do and do your best. In the case of the clinic I'm referring to, they have a double-lead policy - all the dogs out the door are on two leads.
 
and luckily in my case, the doctors weren't there yet and didn't find out about my mistake.

I dunno it was one of the other techs. I stand corrected, it was norepinephrine (if that makes a difference) and I think the reason she gave it was to revive the patient, as she had crashed on the table within seconds of starting the IV fluids. I don't know if that's right or wrong, although I was pretty floored at the cojones she had to use norepinephrine on a patient without a doctor's consent/advice...

Hang on... so you had a patient crash to the floor and it had to get revived, and NO-ONE told a doctor?!?!?!?!
 
Hang on... so you had a patient crash to the floor and it had to get revived, and NO-ONE told a doctor?!?!?!?!

There was no doctor there to tell. It was at 7:30 am when we were doing morning treatments before the doctors got there.
 
.........but what happened after the doctor came in......anyone tell him/her that a patient had crashed?

Not that I can remember, it was quite awhile ago..... commence the shocked horror...
 
The worst mistake I made at our clinic, a high-volume spay/neuter clinic, was forgetting to neuter a cat. I can't believe I didn't get probation for that one. We were understaffed and it was the first day I was in charge of everything: drawing the drugs, anesthetizing and prepping the male cats, and doing the paperwork... there had been a death of an animal earlier that day so I must not have been all there. I totally missed this foster kitten, so we sent him home without surgery. He came back three weeks later when his forever family noticed he was still sporting some testicles. :D

Don't take it as a punishment, take it as a lesson: it might be a severe sentence for something like that, but it'll help you grow more than someone telling you 'it's alright this once...' I'm afraid I'll develop some shoddy practices at this clinic, because everything's so relaxed, and when I move on everyone will stare in horror at my barbaric ways!
 
This didn't happen to me, but to a tech that I know. Either way, it's an example of a huge mistake. A sheltie came in for cancer surgery, owners were very worried, wanted to do everything possible for their dog. Apparently the dog died on the table. After vet students and faculty (this was at the university) tried to revive it, the animal was declared dead and the owners were called.

Paperwork was being filled out and whatnot, so the dog remained dead on the table for 2 or 3 hours. My friend is walking back to finish paperwork, and passes the surgery suite, where the sheltie was sitting up and looking around. After making sure everything was ok, the owners were called, and the dog lived for a year or so (I'm told) after the incident.

Point to make you feel better, OP, is that several 4th years, interns, and faculty made the same mistake. Lesson learned: be sure that your patient is really and truly dead.
 
One of the doctors at our clinic gave a cat 10X the dose of metacam on his very first day as a practicing vet. A few months ago one of our techs shaved the wrong leg of a rabbit having surgery (surgery was done on the correct leg though!). I told someone they could use advantage on their nursing cat. The wrong medications have been sent home with the wrong patients. IV caths have been accidently left in. My point, things will slip though the cracks. Mistakes will be made. No matter how much education, training, or experience you have-- you are human! All you can is check and double check.

I work at an amazing clinic, our entire staff loves, and cares deeply about animals. Our Doctors are some of the best around. If we have made a mistake, we are all comfortable going to the boss and telling her. RUN don't walk away from a clinic that doesn't have your back in cases like this! It's not a good situation!
 
Around 8 months ago I went to give a dog its pre-anesthetic for surgery. I look at the chart and there are 3 syringes there: one is the local block (lidocaine and marcaine), one is the PA, and one is the post-op meloxicam. All are labeled with a piece of tape around the syringe and the drug names written on the tape. I grab the PA syringe (or so I thought) and gave the injection IM. I then realized when I looked back at the chart that I had mixed around the two pieces of tape and actually gave the local block. There was no harm done but I made sure to tell one of the doctors right away. I can say that the pet did not feel it's PA once I did give it. This was my first mistake that I had made in over 6 years as a tech, but I was more concerned for the pet than anything that could happen to me. As it turns out, the doctors where I work are very understanding. I now quadruple check everything I am about to give to a patient before I give it.
 
I learned the hard way to not let someone else change your fluid rate setting on the pump and then let yourself assume you will remember to change it in an hour when you're dealing with a high-maintenance case - always change the VTBI to however much you want to give at the higher rate so that the pump will STOP and beep at you. Yep, that foal got two thirds more hypertonic sodium bicarb than it was supposed to, it continued to decline, and we euthanized it a few hours later. It was in oliguric renal failure/circling the drain anyway, but I will never know if I influenced its declining mental status or the ultimate outcome. I probably gave the resident a few grey hairs, though...

I have made many other, smaller mistakes - such as giving Banamine early because I was furiously trying to unclog a horse's catheter and thought I was grabbing hep flush - but I learned from each one of them and developed a personal system for double-checking myself and the other people involved in the case (I have - rarely - caught mistakes or omissions in treatment orders).

I think it was here on the SDN Anesthesiology board that I read the saying, check each drug 3 times: once for you, once for the patient, and once for your lawyer. It only takes a small amount of extra time to make a habit of double and triple checking to make sure you are doing all of the "rights": right patient, right drug, right dose, right time, right route (I haven't yet, but I certainly know of drugs going the wrong route - Regumate given IV, IN vaccines given IM, etc.). I'm sure I will continue on to new, bigger, better mistakes, but I am conscious of human fallibility and actively work to make it less likely to influence the ultimate outcome. I think that is how you get to consistently excellent patient care, really, not by expecting everyone to be superhuman.

Ditto alliecat - as much as it sucks to have to swallow your pride, it is not OK to cover up a mistake and then compound the error by randomly giving a drug without instructions from a vet.
 
Ditto alliecat - as much as it sucks to have to swallow your pride, it is not OK to cover up a mistake and then compound the error by randomly giving a drug without instructions from a vet.

I think ya'll are taking this a little bit in the wrong way. To clarify: I, personally, at the time wasn't trying to "cover up" something. I had made a mistake, a doctor wasn't there, other people took over and seemingly "fixed" it. We monitored the dog for the rest of the day, but no one acted like it was something that the doctors should be immediately filled in on. Being that I was 20 years old at the time, I went along with others who had much more experience than I did, and seemed confident in what they were doing after I had effed things up, so I kind of let them do what seemed to be the right things. It didn't seem to me at the time like anyone was "covering" anything up.

Sure, fast forward to 4 years later knowing what I know now, I certainly agree, now, that those drugs shouldn't be used without doctor supervision, but honestly there are a ton of technicians who do things they are not legally supposed to do, just because they have been working at their job for a really long time and know how/what to do from years of seeing it done. In this situation, she seemed really confident that that was the right step to take in an emergency like that and since I didn't know what to do and the dog was fading fast, I just stepped aside. So it wasn't necessarily a technician-concerted secretive effort to make sure no one found out what had happened, it was made out more so as a mistake by a tech that was taken care of by another tech. But rest assured, I'll never forget to flush the line again, and furthermore I will always let a doctor know when something catastrophic has happened to a patient.
 
We monitored the dog for the rest of the day, but no one acted like it was something that the doctors should be immediately filled in on.

...but honestly there are a ton of technicians who do things they are not legally supposed to do, just because they have been working at their job for a really long time and know how/what to do from years of seeing it done.

I think the point is - how on earth is a patient nearly dying NOT something a doctor should be IMMEDIATELY filled in on? No matter the education or experience level of the tech, I don't feel they have the knowledge avaliable to them to determine what happens next (ie, what direction the followup takes).

As you said, yes, there are lots of things techs do they are not legally supposed to. But most of them are more mechanical tasks that require very little education/lateral thinking. Because sure, once they've seen it for 10 years they might know how/what, but they are probably still going to have a pretty poor understanding of why, which is why in physiologically complex situations such as resuscitation, you need a vet involved.
 
I think this dead horse has been adequately beaten.
 
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