A-Steph.....I worked as a nurses aid in a hospital for many years, but one time a patient had a machine hooked up to him - a chest tube....and there was a jar beside the bed underneath the machine on a shelf that had fluid in it. Part of my job was going around and measuring fluids from different areas....
I had never seen a machine like this before so I went to the nurse and asked if I should empty the liquid out of it....I said I have never seen this machine before. She said yes so I did... I went back and told her it was done and this look of panic came over her face when she realized what I had done and she called the doctor and he came in....This machine is usually only done by the doctor and I should not have touched it.
The Doctor came in and was cussing and yelling not at me but at the nurse and I felt three inches tall, horrible and wished the floor would open up and swallow me.... I had asked but the nurse didn't come and see what I was asking about and even though it really wasn't my fault I felt responsible because I had emptied it. I probably set the patient back two or three days more of a stay in the hospital and that was the good outcome it could have been a lot worse as his lung could have collapsed.
There was a review board and the nurse and myself had to go and answer a lot of questions.... I was not found at fault even though I emptied the jar as I had asked my supervising nurse for directions and had received the wrong ones.... But I still felt so bad and it is the worst thing I did working as a nurses aid.
So yes, things happen to make us feel really bad at times....but then there are those moments that things go the right way like when a lady visiting another patient asked me if I would mind taking her blood pressure and when I did it was like 230/190 and I said very calmly to her..... I don't want to alarm you but I recommend that you go see your doctor right away because your blood pressure is very high. A few days later she was visiting again and said dear thank you so much I believe you saved my life as she had been put on some medication to help lower her blood pressure and her doctor was treating her for this problem.... So there is good with the bad..... Don't be too hard on yourself.....