Dealing With Failure As A Nurse

Practice Nurse, Debbie, talks openly about making mistakes, handling criticism and the essential process of reflection and the improved practice that come from these experiences.

Hello, my name is Debbie, and I'm a Practice Nurse in London. 

Today, I'm going to be discussing how to deal with failure as a Nurse.

So, there's a quote that I recently read that stated, "Failure is simply an opportunity to try again, but more intelligently." 

So, why is failing, especially as a Nurse, or a student Nurse, or healthcare professional in general so difficult to handle?

Your Nursing Practice Will Only Improve With Experience 

I think for me personally, one of the reasons why I found it quite hard to "fail" quote unquote, is because of the training that we are given as Nurses. 

As a student, you are very hands on in nursing. 

It's not just the theory where you're sitting in a classroom. 

You are actually put on placements.

You are put in scenarios that you will experience in real life, and you're taught so much. 

So, when put in an independent setting, or once you've graduated, you've finished your degree, and you're attempting things that you learned in the past, and you don't get it right, it's almost like, you know, I thought I had this, I thought I knew what to do.

Receiving Criticism Can Be Hard

So, why is failing, especially as a Nurse, or a student Nurse, or healthcare professional in general so difficult to handle?

And I'm going to share a quick story of something that happened to me personally, that really made me evaluate, you know, how I process failing at things.

So, this was a time where a fellow Nurse, who happened to be a patient of mine, called me a failure, or really highlighted the fact that I had failed at something.

So, I was doing blood tests. I was about three, four months into the job.

And I had done blood tests in the past, and when I was a Healthcare Assistant.

And I had been shown, you know, by my mentor how to do it.

And so the patient comes in, I do her blood test, and I couldn't find her vein the first time.

She knows she's got difficult veins.

My mentor knows she's got difficult veins.

So, I attempted. I couldn't get it.

My mentor came.

She tried and she got it first time, obviously, knowing the patient, knowing she's a Nurse, knowing that, you know, she's got difficult veins, just having a better inkling of who the patient is.

And once the blood test was finished, and she was going, she said, "Bye," and she mentioned my mentor's name, and then she said bye to me, and she said, "The one who failed."

Now, to me, I must admit, I am quite resilient, I've got tough skin, but I was taken aback.

And I think I was more so taken aback because she's a Nurse also.

And, you know, I did have to explain to her, I said, "Oh, I, like, apologies, I couldn't get your vein," you know?

And when she said that I was like, "Oh, you know, no one was born knowing everything." 

I was able to dissolve the situation, by, you know, just laughing out a little bit, and saying, "Oh, don't worry, I'll do better next time." 

But it was quite shocking for me. 

And I think sometimes, you know, as Nurses, sometimes we're not as lenient to others when they make mistakes. 

Being Scared Of Getting It Wrong

And I think another, which leads me onto my next point, another thing that makes failing quite hard is simply because in nursing, the stakes can be quite high, and rightfully and understandably so, because there are lives at risk.

But there are certain things that we do as Nurses, that, you know, unless we try, we won't be able to do it. 

And I'm not talking about, you know, making mistakes where you have a drug error, which does happen, and people learn from it.

They go to court.

All kinds of things happen.

They aren't allowed to practice for a certain amount of time.

They have to reflect.

They have to, you know, write up a report of what has happened, and how they can, the action plan of how they can be better.

Those things are very important in the learning process, and when we fail at things.

But simple and less high-risk tasks, such as, you know trying to take blood, or you did a dressing and you didn't exactly put it on properly, or, you know, just various things like that, whereby somebody can actually supervise.

For example, when I was learning how to do smear tests, and, you know, I couldn't locate the cervix, you know, immediately, like my mentor could, things like that, it's like you almost fall down constantly, like, "Oh my gosh, maybe I can't do it."

But after some time of doing it, I've realised that it's literally just practicing.

And you know, as the quote goes, it's not practice makes perfect, as we so grew up with, it's practice makes improvement, because we can always get better at a trait.

We can always get better at a task at hand, especially in nursing.

There are so many years, and so many skills to learn everything that we need to do.

The Mentor’s Role

But one thing that my mentor's always taught me, is that her door's a revolving door. You know, you don't have to go through anything alone. You can ask for help.

And I think it's also key to remember that you are not alone.

In practice nursing, again, as I've mentioned before, it is you and the four walls.

And it can feel like, "Oh my gosh, I'm alone in what I'm doing."

But one thing that my mentor's always taught me, is that her door's a revolving door. You know, you don't have to go through anything alone. You can ask for help.

You can ask, you know, so that, you know, if you're unsure, if you've made a mistake in the past, you always have that opportunity to go and ask, you know, for help.

And I think when people fail at something, they become a bit more reserved.

Like, oh my gosh, I can't try again because everyone's gonna look at me in a certain way.

But because I know this is my job, this is what I need to do, and I want to get it right, I force myself to go and ask questions, and say, "And just to confirm," you know?

There are so many times I walk into my mentor's room, and I say, "Just to confirm, this is the one that, and we do that, and?"

It could be something so simple, but I don't wanna make the same mistake again.

And once I'm fully confident, she won't find me in her room again.

So, I think it's a case of, you know, when you do make a mistake, no matter how big or small, remembering that, you know, there are people that, well, should be there to help you in the process of getting back to where you were, or helping you not to repeat the same mistakes.

Everyone Was Inexperienced Once

I've had to remind senior Nurses that I'm just learning, and I'm okay to just be learning, but don't make me feel as though my learning process is, you know, is wrong.

And another thing that I would say is very important, is the fact that nobody was born knowing what to do.

And I say that a lot.

Like, when I was a student, there were, there were Nurses.

And inevitably, no matter where you go, there's always gonna be people who think they're better than everybody else.

But there were Nurses that almost made it feel like you should know what to do, like you were, you should have been doing this since you were two years old kind of thing.

And it's like, do you remember when you were a student?

Do you remember when you couldn't do a certain thing?

You didn't always know how to do it.

And there's been so many times, like, as a student, there's been so many times I've had to remind senior Nurses that I'm just learning, and I'm okay to just be learning, but don't make me feel as though my learning process is, you know, is wrong, or, you know, I should just know everything.

The Right Mindset Can Help You Learn

Because when you have that mindset of, I should just know anything, you're blocking yourself from learning because then you don't ask questions, or you reserve yourself, or you end up going forward, doing something, and making mistakes.

So, it's very important that when dealing with failures, when dealing with setbacks, no matter how big or small, you sit back, you reflect.

The Importance Of Reflection

The whole point of revalidation every three years is so that we're able to reflect, to look back, see what we've done great, see what we can improve, you know, and see what, you know, the trajectory that we're going on.

Reflecting is one of the key things that we're taught as students, and we're taught in our nursing process.

The whole point of revalidation every three years is so that we're able to reflect, to look back, see what we've done great, see what we can improve, you know, and see what, you know, the trajectory that we're going on.

And, you know, these are important things in nursing.

Being able to reflect and say, "Do you know what, I've done this in the past."

It may not have been a grand failure, but it could, or, you know, something that you absolutely failed at, but something that you can improve on.

So, always being able to look back and say, "Do you know what, I think I can do this better, or do this in another way."

And I think things like that will really help when we fall, or when we, you know, make mistakes, or fail, or whatever the case may be, how we can get back up.

I hope this helps someone.