Scared I hurt a pt

statrn42 · Apr 12, 2005

Hi, I am a nursing student. A few weeks ago, I gave Rho gam IM. I believe it came in a prefilled syringe, where you attach the dose into the syringe. Now, I inserted the needle, I aspirated...no blood. So, I injected it. As I was injecting the vaccine, blood came up into the syringe.
I have given I'd say about 10 IM injections. I have been thinking about this. Is it the syringe? Anyone familiar w/it? I aspirated, but there was no blood return. I aspirated sufficiently enough to get a blood return. Why would blood come up into the syringe as I am injecting the medication?
Another thing I was thinking about. Was there air in the syringe, could something like that have happened and me not know it???? Even so, I still aspirated, and blood would return if I had hit a vein.
Please help. I am scared I harmed a pregnant woman. Please tell me what you know.

First of all your procedure was by the book. I know that you need a good 10cc of air to cause any sort of probable conplications. The needle could have been loose. Rhogam are antibodys aren't they. It's been a long time since I work on Maternity. Rhogam going into the blood stream, wouldn't be as harmful as other drugs.

francine79 · Apr 13, 2005

I don't have an exact answer to that. But next time you do something that you aren't sure of or think may harm the patient, you need to tell your clinical instructor right away. Honesty is VERY important in nursing. If you did harm your patient, how is anyone to know what happened without you telling them. Your patient could suffer tremendously because of your lack of informing the appropriate person. If that was a narcotic to be given IM and you accidently injected it into a vein you could cause serious harm. But by being honest and admitting your mistake, you might be able to take the necessary measures to prevent harm. If this were a situation in which you were the nurse and did cause harm and failed to notify someone you lose your license for negligence. Please learn from this experience! No nurse or instructor will be upset that you asked about something you aren't sure of. They are there to help you to learn. They will trust you more when they know you do ask about things you aren't sure of.

chilloutrelax · Apr 14, 2005

I don't have an exact answer to that. But next time you do something that you aren't sure of or think may harm the patient, you need to tell your clinical instructor right away. Honesty is VERY important in nursing. If you did harm your patient, how is anyone to know what happened without you telling them. Your patient could suffer tremendously because of your lack of informing the appropriate person. If that was a narcotic to be given IM and you accidently injected it into a vein you could cause serious harm. But by being honest and admitting your mistake, you might be able to take the necessary measures to prevent harm. If this were a situation in which you were the nurse and did cause harm and failed to notify someone you lose your license for negligence. Please learn from this experience! No nurse or instructor will be upset that you asked about something you aren't sure of. They are there to help you to learn. They will trust you more when they know you do ask about things you aren't sure of.

Thanks for the advice. I have thought about it, and there was nothing I could do. I didn't tell an instructor, because an instructor wasn't present. I was in a clinic, by myself. However, I shouldn't have done it w/o the nurse. I have given so many injections, and it was so busy that day, I didn't want to bother the nurse to watch. I know I'm being paranoid, I really don't believe I harmed her now, but it has made me more careful....much more careful.