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| No. 30 | 
Nov 21, 2007, 04:23 AM
 Re: Babies given wrong dose of Heparin @ Cedar Sinai
This is a prime example of the incompetence drug companies and hospital administrations are displaying. They want to blame everything on the RN and as a RN I have honestly caught many errors but still I cannot be in a rush to do my job and be expected to make sure another person is not making mistakes too. So RNs get written up or terminated, the big guns can go to sleep at night because "they have handled" the problem. The sad fact is the problem has not been fixed. This is becoming a too common error all over the United States. You have to accept that fact that despite the "5 rights of medication administration" or now I think some are wanting to go to 15 or more that these will never make humans (and I am including RNs ...gasp) perfect. It isnt a flaw with the RN it is a flaw in the system.
On a side note, I have always had an order to flush the lines q 12 hours or so but I dont think I have ever had an order specifying to use hep lock solution or saline upon insertion of the IV or after giving most IV meds.
 | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 31 |
Nov 21, 2007, 04:38 AM
Re: Babies given wrong dose of Heparin @ Cedar Sinai
I still don't get why there is a picture of Dennis Quaid carrying his twins home in carseats. If they are fighting for their lives, why is he carrying them around in carseats, and if the picture was taken before the med error, then why did both twins have to return to the hospital after discharge & have IV therapy???
| | No. 32 |
Nov 21, 2007, 06:44 AM
Dennis Quaid's newborns reportedly harmed by medical mix-up
Sorry if this is a double post! According to the website TMZ.com, Quaid's children, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were given 1,000 times the normal concentration of heparin, a blood thinner used to prevent clots. The site said the babies were in stable condition in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.
Dr. Michael L. Langberg, Cedars-Sinai's chief medical officer, confirmed in a statement late Tuesday that "as a result of a preventable error," three patients had their intravenous catheters flushed Sunday with a concentration of heparin 1,000 times higher than the normal protocol. Staff members used vials containing a concentration of 10,000 units per milliliter instead of similar vials containing a concentration of 10 units per milliliter. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...nes-california | | No. 33 |
Nov 21, 2007, 06:53 AM
Re: Babies given wrong dose of Heparin @ Cedar Sinai
Post #33 merged with existing thread.
| | No. 35 |
Nov 21, 2007, 02:33 PM
Re: Babies given wrong dose of Heparin @ Cedar Sinai
Actually, saline locks are good for babies, too. A lot of NICUs use them. Not ours. And, apparently, not Cedars-Sinai!
| | No. 38 |
Nov 21, 2007, 03:05 PM
Re: Babies given wrong dose of Heparin @ Cedar Sinai
A dose of Heparin should NEVER be just laid down somewhere. It's drawn up, double checked by a second RN, held onto until administered. Besides what is a 10,000 unit bottle of Heparin doing in a neonatal area? Makes no sense, no sense what-so-ever. Pure stupidity.
| | No. 39 |
Nov 21, 2007, 03:09 PM
Re: Babies given wrong dose of Heparin @ Cedar Sinai Originally Posted by DutchgirlRN  Besides what is a 10,000 unit bottle of Heparin doing in a neonatal area? Makes no sense, no sense what-so-ever. Pure stupidity.
Because it was placed there accidentally by a pharmacy technician...
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