Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ummm Really?

I saw this on my friend's facebook page and wanted to share it here. Now I'm not here to judge....but I'm gonna...just a little bit though. There are a couple things that really stand out to me with this particular, completely disturbing news story. My thoughts are below the article. Now I do realize I'm not a nurse so maybe I shouldn't formulate strong opinions w/out having walked in a nurses shoes. HOWEVER, that being said, I do play the roll of a full time functioning pancreas on behalf of my 6 year old Type 1 daughter. That should give me some justification for my thoughts below.

Staffers at Schofield Elementary in Wellesley injected with insulin

WELLESLEY, Mass. (FOX25, myfoxboston) - Wellesley school officials say several staff members at an elementary school had to be taken to the hospital after being injected with insulin rather than the swine flu vaccine they were supposed to get.

Superintendent Bella Wong says no students were ever in danger at Friday's vaccine clinic for staff at Schofield Elementary School and all the people who got the wrong shot have recovered.

Wong, in a letter to staff and parents Monday, said the insulin belonged to students with diabetes and was provided by their parents.

Wong said in the letter that the school nurse who administered the insulin to staff has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. She did not give the nurse's name.

Shamae's completely biased thoughts in no particular order--Ahem...clearing throat....

1st--these shots were given by a NURSE. Shouldn't nurses know the protocol for giving injections of ANY type of medicine? I would assume one of the things they would/should do is read the label of the medicine in hand. I deal with insulin vials. They are clearly labeled. It's unlikely the medicine would have been in anything except the original container. Therefore, if the nurse had read the bottle, it would have said INSULIN NOT SWINE FLU VACCINE! (Ok I added the last part. But it would have been labeled as the kind of insulin...novolog, humalog, etc. A nurse would know what it was if the bottle had been read!)

2nd--I'm just curious. The superintendent said no students were in danger because of this incident. My thinking is this, forgive me if I'm a tad skeptical, if it were this easy to give teachers insulin instead of the swine flu vaccine, how easy would it have been for the "completely competent" nurse to give a student with diabetes the swine flu vaccine (or another med that might be being stored there) instead of his/her insulin? I'm just sayin! Well I guess with the pump, that is one area I don't have to worry about as much. Syd's insulin stays with her at all times. :-)


3rd--I'm very glad nobody was hurt in this situation. I have no idea how much vaccine an adult should receive for the swine flu vaccination. Those staff members are very lucky. I'm curious to find out what happens to this nurse.

What are your thoughts about this situation?

10 comments:

Meri said...

Food for thought:
How do we really KNOW that she didn't inject swine flu vaccine into these diabetic children?

Just wondering.

I don't want to judge either...seriously, we don't know the circumstances...BUT...She should have read the label. For real.

Micah and Jen said...

CRAZY! I hope she lost her job....she's nuts!

Amy said...

Unbelievable to me! How could she NOT KNOW??? Yeah...I'm curious,too about what is going to happen to her.

Wendy said...

I don't know...I think that, if all the teacher's started passing out, it would have put the kids in a potentially dangerous situation...but that's just me...

As for the nurse screwing up...DANG! This is one heck of a medical error! Reading the vial before actually administering the medication is always a good thing. I am really curious to know if the vials looked alike....because there are SO MANY meds that have similar packaging. Not defending her, just curious.

Happy to hear that everyone recovered, but...ya know...I'm thinking they probably got - oh, I don't know - half to a full cc/ml of med??? That would be like 50 - 100 units!!!!!

HOLY TOLEDO!!!!!

Lora said...

You would THINK that if the parent brought the insulin in... then the bottle SHOULD CLEARLY be marked with that childs name???

She may have made a mistake with 1... but several??? I don't know!

Just sayin!!!

Casey said...

yep, the vaccine is measured in ml... so lots of insulin would have been administered IM!!! that is super quick absorption!

I assume since everyone is OK that none of those people actually had diabetes so their body was able to rectify any low before it came on... maybe...

proof again to make sure everyone in health care follows the 5 rights.

Wortham Family said...

All i have to say is.. I"m glad she is not my kids or my Nurse. It's kind of sad how people don't really pay attention as much as they should just cause they think they are so smart. Everyone makes mistakes but.. when you are in the medical field you have to watch what you are doing very careful!! That's just what i think. I'm glad that those people are ok!!

Greg & Andrea said...

wow, she's gotta a lot of explaining to do. That's the thing with being a doc. or a Nurse you just CAN NOT make mistakes like that. It could have cost someone their life! She may need to pick a new career.

Rachel said...

You know when my kids received their flu vaccines.... the needles were already pre-filled. Is that how they ship?

Jennie said...

Wow! Your second thought really made me think. Scary!