Ever caught a visitor playing with an IV pump??

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 13, 2006

I'd tell the person doing it to stop. If they didn't or they argue agaisnt it, i would let them know that security is just a phone call away, and that it was all for the prevention of harming a pt.

babynurselsa, RN · Mar 13, 2006

We use the Abbott Plum Pumps. I'll have to find out if we have a feature like this one them!!

Lock Out button is on the back of the pump.

~Anne~ · Mar 13, 2006

Visitors and patients are always trying to "silence" the beeping . Then they say , "oh well i know your busy and we didnt want to bother you. " ... well maybe if they HAD bothered me, the pts' IV NTG wouldnt have been running at 100cc/h ... thank god the PT was ok but now i make sure all my pumps are locked ! What is wrong with ppl ? lol

TweetiePieRN · Mar 13, 2006

Thanks everyone for the replies~! Especially about where I can locate the lock button!! I'm off to work now~!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 13, 2006

i've seen patients play with the iv pumps before -- i once had a visitor take the tubing out of the imed pump and run the aminophylline drip straight in. luckily, the patient didn't have a seizure! i've frequently had patients play with the roller clamps, either shutting off the fluid so the iv clotted off, or turning it up so an entire bag would run straight in. the worst, though, has got to be the visitor last month who saw her husband's tubefeed tubing all coiled up neatly and hanging up. she "thought it had been accidentally disconnected" and connected it back up -- to the art line! fortunately, she didn't know enough to turn the stopcock, or i shudder to think what might have happened!

flasandy42 · Mar 13, 2006

>>

i used to hear that all the time so when i had terrible pain from a kidney stone and had to go to the er, i thought...."well, now i'll know what they mean" because they were going to give me iv demerol. i was very surprised that i didn't feel "high" or anything....the pain just went away after i got it. so if you don't have pain to begin with why would you want it? maybe it works differently on different people?

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Mar 14, 2006

I've had visitors mess with the pumps a few times. The worst was a patient on heparin and the visitor was supposedly a nurse--which I doubt--unless she had it in for the patient, because she kept turned the pump off about three times, despite the lockout, then claiming that she didn't know how it turned off. Worked fine when she wasn't there, though. :madface:

Charted my butt off that night.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Mar 14, 2006

Yes, especially family members. I tell them politely that they have to leave the pump alone. If they don't then I tell them after one more warning they will be asked to leave. That does the trick. I make a fuss over the patient (which is actually the truth). She/He needs these fluids/meds in order to get well. They are of utmost importance.

Years ago before pumps and cannot tell you how many patients and family members played with the roller clamps and how many times I'd go in 15-30 minutes after hanging a new bottle (yes, glass bottle!) and the dang thing would be empty. It was H*** with CHF patients as you can only imagine!

lpnstudentin2010, LPN · Mar 14, 2006

I am a patient in a pedi hospital...starting this last time i now stay by myself but when my mom stayed with me she would call my nurse to inform them it was beeping and then silence it.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2006

We just got new Plum + pumps and there is a lock on them so people cant mess with them. I love the new Plums, but they also have a warning on the side about cell phones interfereing with dose administration rates. Scarey since noone seems to be able to read the cell phone notices on ALL the doors in the place. People take for granted they can use their cells anyplace they choose. Gets real tiring telling people to turn them off or go to the designated areas to use them, patients included.

I guess you could always threaten to have them removed from the hospital if they continue to interfere with patient treatment.

miss_fit · Mar 14, 2006

Obviously, some of the referenced situations are very dangerous indeed, and some patients and visitors are very careless and rude.

But I have to say that, as a pt myself, it was very upsetting to have that thing going off for even a few minutes.

Seriously, those alarm beeps going off next to your head are like needles in the ear when you're sick and/or in pain.

Out of all the great nurses I had, only one even let it get low enough to beep in the first place. Understandable, but then she'd let it go on, and was bossy to me about not silencing it, even when I used the call button to tell them. :confused:

The first time it went off, I was in too much pain to reach it. So I told them, then lay there waiting...and waiting... First, I just wanted to cry, but eventually fantasized about shooting the dang thing. :chuckle

The next time, I managed to silence it, and then told them. When she came in, she told me not to silence it or call, because she could hear it beeping from out there and would come when she could. I apologized.

The next time, I was a good girl and didn't silence it or use the call button. But I lay there forever, it seemed, the needle-like sound penetrating my skull, and ultimately watched my blood backing up the tube.

When she finally came in, I was nice and pretended not to notice, yet I think she hated me even more after that. LOL

kitty=^..^=cat · Mar 14, 2006

Physician gives order, "Pt. may ambulate to parking lot with PCA pump for smoking privs. in POV if raining or outside temp >75"

The same physician repeatedly admits this same patient for pain management related to urinary complaints - pyelo, r/o kidney stone (which barely any insurances pay for b/c it can be ruled-out on an o/p basis), etc. This is a well-known, spent-time-in-jail-for-drugs-chick, ALWAYS has heme(+) urine from the office and a bloody hang-nail on admission kind of thing....

BTW, I no longer work at this facility - I quickly realized I'd been hired to do an impossible job (obtain JCAHO accreditation) in a Twilight Zone "boutique hospital" for drug-seekers.