A colleague's unsafe practice and near misses: what a nurse reports
What a practical nurse does when a colleague's practice is unsafe: protect the client, report the near miss, and act on a pattern.
- Step in before the client is harmed.
- Report a near miss, even when nobody was harmed.
- A pattern goes to your manager, with dates and facts.
When a colleague's practice is unsafe, protect the client first. Then report it the way your employer's policy states, with facts. A near miss is reported even when nobody was harmed, because the cause is still there. This guide follows one practical nurse through a near miss and a pattern.
Protect the client first
It is 09:00, and across the room a colleague is about to give a medication without checking the client's armband. What you do in the next few seconds matters more than anything you write later. So you step in and say: “Wait, let's check the armband together.”
It is the wrong client. Because you spoke up, no dose was given and nobody was harmed.
Report the near miss
Your colleague asks you to keep it quiet, since nothing happened. The cause is still there. So you report the near miss to the charge nurse, the way your employer's policy states.
Record the facts while they are fresh
- What you saw.
- When you saw it.
- What you did.
When it happens again
Now suppose that by Friday you have seen the same colleague skip the check twice more. That is a pattern. You go to your manager with the dates, the times and what you saw. You do not wait to collect more proof.
You also keep it out of the break room. Talking about a colleague with other staff protects no one.
What goes to the regulator
Some conduct must also go to the regulator by law. The rules differ between provinces, so know the rules of your province and your regulator's duty to report.