Nurse Gwen Cox Learns from Her Patient Safety Mistake

Gwen Cox is a nurse turned champion for patient safety. When Gwen made a fatal error while caring for one of her patients, she realized the importance of acknowledging and learning from her mistakes to improve future patient outcomes.

[miggleface]

It is definitely sad to hear mistakes like this are made but I do respect Gwen for turning her mistake to such a life turning lesson. Mad Respect honestly, that takes guts.

[maximussarcasticus]

This is the stuff they need to teach and drill into nursing students, but what we get instead is how to do APA and write a good paper. Frustrating as the vast majority of us will not go on to do research or write papers, but we all will give medication at some point.

[karincampbell]

I think it is amazing that you shared your mistake and made this video to help others who might make this same mistake. Most of the time we hide mistakes, making it impossible for other nurses to avoid the same mistake. We all should learn from other mistakes, and a mistake should never be made twice. Keeping errors behind closed doors doesn't provide opportunities for improving patient safety.

[TheArmedNurse]

Everybody makes mistakes in their jobs. We are human and to err is to human. However, when it comes to mistakes that can cause serious harm or death to someone, it is important to learn from the mistakes we observe others make so we do not make the same errors ourselves. Gwen certainly learned from her error and as a nursing student myself, these videos of other nurses making potentially fatal mistakes is just a reminder to always be vigilant to ensure that I don't make these kinds of mistakes on the job.

[enjoyreallife]

Gwen, Thank you for sharing your experience here. Appreciate your braveness instead of giving up on nursing took it as a step to success to move on. This will be very inspirational for newly qualified nurses. Honesty is the key to our noble profession. Hats off.

[animaloverdani]

As nurses, we all make mistakes, we just hope and pray and that it won't be one that hurts a patient. I double check everything, but I triple check and cross check high risk medications. But you can never let down your guard, a couple weeks ago, a bad shift handoff caused me to double dose my patient on melatonin. I didn't double check the previous administration because melatonin is so low risk - but it was still a med error!

High respect to this nurse for turning a traumatic situation into growth. <3

[lindsaytaylor]

What a sweetheart of a patient Shirley is.

[eternalperspective]

What a beautiful lady Shirley was, so kind, gracious and forgiving. As nurses, we are blessed to meet so many inspirational individuals who teach and inspire us. It is a huge responsibility to protect the safety of our patients. It needs to be of the utmost priority, over productivity etc. because our patients and their families trust us.

[imlistening]

In one kind of job, an error ends up creating extra paperwork, or wasted time, or costing a little money- inconveniences, but not life altering or worse, life ending. But in another kind of job, like nursing, or medicine, or flying a plane, etc, mistakes can be fatal. Yet we are still people, who can make mistakes, doing both kinds of jobs. Taking our experiences, bravely acknowledging and learning from them, will do more to correct the problem than punishment or shaming. That’s why I admire the NTSB and their problem-solving, safety-focused approach to airline safety. And it seem this nurse, Gwen, is doing a really great job at her hospital with that same attitude. I’ve not met a nurse yet who was indifferent to having made a mistake, myself included. It’s horrifying. The nurse doesn’t need anyone to get on to them… they will do that for the rest of their lives. But by sharing a mistake, it may save the same occurrence from happening many times again.

[muhamedtouray]

In simulation today I overlooked an order that said 40mg furosemide i thought it was 40ml of furosemide ivp thats why im here watching. I will never do this again, I am not dumb I was just overwhelmed. Never again!

[AllisonNicol]

Thank you for sharing this. That takes courage.

[crystalevans]

This is really inspirational and helps me to remember to stop and pay attention to what is going on. I appreciate her honesty.

[michelleray]

Thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing your mistake... one we all make at some point in our nursing careers and on a regular basis in our human lives! God bless that patient for reassuring you things would be okay while her BP was plummeting. Such a beautifully sad story.

[debishaw]

You are a very loving nurse! We all make mistakes. Thank you for sharing, Gwen.

[songssongs]

Thank God for that patient compassion and understanding…. And even though it put her in a compromising situation… I felt like it needed to happen and she was the perfect example… And it reaulted for this Nurse to take this experience and use it to teach future Nurses to avoid this situation…. God bless both of them.

[stephenorobio]

This is the best video I could find on Youtube to support patient safety. So honest and great to share.

[MadamCharChar]

I was a patient at a hospital that had these bright yellow caution signs on the COWs (Computers on Wheels) that read : " Please do not disturb the nurse, medication administration in progress". I thought that this was a very good idea. I have been disrupted by patient's families or by staff while I was scanning meds and it's difficult to get back on track, you have to start the whole process of reviewing the medications again before going into the patient's room. Nurses don't have the time these days to duplicate the work flow.

[NoahGarnier]

Thank you for sharing your experience. You are teaching alot of people from this. God bless you 🙏 ❤️

[TheWalterHWhite]

You're not a real RN until you have a med error. I hate that I even have to say it. We're all human and it happens. It's a gut check. What everybody in a safety / supervisor role should do is to not shame those who make them. Make adjustments for the patients safety, but so not shame them. Shaming RNs only creates a culture of fear and the likelihood of covering med errors up.

[helendavis]

God bless you, it is made too hard for caregivers and hospitals to be honest.