[neonursey]

Hey everyone,

Well, a year and a half of nursing and i made my first big mistake and i am still beating myself up over it. Yesterday afternoon my head nurse of all people noted that my lipids were running at a rate of 2.0 as opposed to 0.2cc's per hour on my little 29 weeker with hyperbilirubinemia and hardly any urine output. we stopped the infusion as soon as we noted the error and did a stat triglyeride level which indicated a total of 3.21mmol/L in her body (normal goes up to 1.49mmol/L i believe). We decided to stop the infusion for a good 12 hours then retake the level in the morning. Anways, i am freaking out cause its not like her little body isnt working overdrive already!! I called into work this morning to see if the level had come down at all, but i cant get in touch with the nurse who has her today. I guess my main question is How long does it take for the triglyceride level to drop in the infants body and will this have any ill effect in the long run??

I feel so awful and am so angry at myself for not have catching the error earlier. If anyone knows the answer to my questions or have any advice, i would GREATLY appreciate it!!

Thanks so much in advance.

[rainbows4me]

but wanted to give you a hug... I hope everything works out without any lasting effects. My first big error was starting a double strength dopamine drip and a single strength rate!!! (oh yeah - that's double the dose!) Luckily for us (baby and myself) we caught it within five minutes before any harm came to the baby. HR was up, but came back down quickly. It is so scary to have an error happen, and yet everyone tells me they happen to everyone... It just feels so awful!!

Peace...

[suzanne4]

Where I work all of our drips and even IL/TPN are checked and verified with another RN before they are started. And change in rate must be verified with another nurse also.

[dawngloves]

I have heard of this before, so if that makes you feel any better.....
I do not remember the outcome though, must not have been bad if I can't!

[iceNICUnurse]

I am so sorry this happend to you.

Once a baby in my unit got a whole 24hours worth of lipids in one hr.
It was a long time ago but as far as I know the baby was fine. But the Nurse who did this had a terrible time for a while but she still works in my NICU and told me the story herself.

[neonursey]

hey you guys,


thanks so much for your replies and encouragement. I am writting to let you know the baby is okay, her triglyceride level had gone down to normal that night and lipids were started the next day. Needless to say i am SUPER careful with my drip rates now and double check them in the chart and with a nurse, even though it is not necessary. I am feeling a lot better and wanted to thank you guys for your replies!!!!

[BittyBabyGrower]

That is an easy mistake to make....it was our number one med error in our unit so now we have to calculate the rate and have it co-signed with another RN before we can hit the deliver button.