u/Adddddz

I’ve been a nurse for less than a year and I made a med error. I was overwhelmed, had six patients and went to give a BP med, it wasn’t in the Pyxis and I got pulled into something else and honestly just forgot about it. When I went to give report, the nurse asked about it and the medication was actually supposed to be given twice. I was very honest about it, we checked their BP & it was WNL for the evening. I was reassured that this happens all the time, nurses make mistakes and I shouldn’t worry about it but to just chart it. Before I left, I charted that I didn’t give the medication and that it wasn’t in the Pyxis. I was initially very worried about this and again was told not to worry just to be more careful next time. Well, a week goes by and the night before I’m supposed to go in I get called by a manager and am told I cannot come in that night and I need to submit a statement. They said I had also given the nurse the wrong diet in my report. I went off of the diet I got from the previous nurse (I should have checked, I am very aware and am still beating myself up for this). After I give my report, a few hours later I am called back and told that I cannot come to work for the rest of the week and I have to have a meeting with HR, my manager and director. I asked over the phone if any harm had come to the patient, and the director told me not tha she was aware of. This was over a week after the incident. During the meeting, they basically interrogated me for over an hour about why I did or didn’t do what I had done. I was honest and told them I was overwhelmed and I just messed up and I understood that this could have resulted in patient harm. My answer was not good enough and I was repeatedly asked why I acted that way. I ended up crying almost the entire time and had asked to go to the bathroom and the HR seemed very inconvenienced by this. They took my badge and said I was suspended until they decided what to do. It was horrible and I felt very belittled and small. A few days go by and they call me back in and give me a final written warning, tell me if I mess up again I’ll be fired and they’re going to report me to the BON. My manager told me after that the BON probably wouldn’t do much as I am new and it was my first mistake. She honestly seemed like she felt bad for me. They didn’t ask me to if I needed more training, offer education, or any other resources. I was put back onto the floor that weekend and coincidentally had to give report to the nurse that reported me. The charge nurse said they were told specifically to do this, they felt bad and asked if they could reassign them to another nurse as it was their first day back. They were told no and they had to assign those patients to that nurse. I was told by a nurse that patient had to go to a higher acuity of care two days after the incident. I reached out to my manager and asked again if anything had happened, and was ignored. I got an email from the BON today stating that there was an investigation about not meeting minimum standards to practice. This entire situation has been traumatic and I am scared and don’t know what to do. I am trying my best. Do I need to get a lawyer? I apologize for how long this was.