Patients dead from infected IV's....

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in ER.
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Specializes in School Nurse.

But a bit misleading - the article said they were all critically ill before the TPN, and ""There is nothing to suggest the deaths were directly related to the bacterial infection"

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Specializes in ER.

that is true.... of course we won't have the full scoop... wonder what prompted them to look at the TPN bags...??

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

You always look at TPN with a sepsis investigation...

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Specializes in ER.

interesting, since the only patient's I deal with are sepsis alerts in the ED.... don't really know exactly what the source is when they arrive, but usually we look at lungs, urinary tract, or blood. Other than that, and treating that, they move on to the floor with a more or less definitive diagnosis.

Do you mean they look at TPN with a patient who BECOMES septic while admitted??

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Specializes in NICU.
You always look at TPN with a sepsis investigation...

Really? At my hospital the first thing they look at is contaminated IV lines and tend to want to blame the nurses for not following the protocol to keep them clean when broken into.

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what's fox news' agenda behind this one...

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Specializes in ER.

ooh please...

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:D

I kid I kid...

every news agency seems to have an agenda these days, sometimes it's weird not reading between the lines

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that is true.... of course we won't have the full scoop... wonder what prompted them to look at the TPN bags...??

A high number of patients on TPN developed Serratia marcescens bacteremia. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Two of the hospitals reported it right away when they saw the unusual increase, and the investigation started. Here's an interview with the Alabama Director of Public Health, Dr. Donald Williamson, explaining what happened.

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/30/nine-die-due-to-contaminated-iv-bags/

My hospital also gets TPN pre-mixed from an outside pharmacy. It makes me nervous every time I hang it.

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But a bit misleading - the article said they were all critically ill before the TPN, and ""There is nothing to suggest the deaths were directly related to the bacterial infection"

Of course it's misleading...just look at the source... ;)

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Specializes in med-surg/ tele.

Those poor nurses... I wouldn't trade places with them for anything. You know they're being blamed for it, no matter what really happened...

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