Got the scare of my life today

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.

I have a young student who has had her new insulin pump for a couple months. She is doing exceedingly well with it and is usually in pretty tight control. Today I got a call from her mom, frantic because she had accidently given too much insulin before school. How does an extra 70 units grab ya?:eek: Of course, I got her immediately out of class and disconnected her pump. Thank God her BG was a little high--she felt like crap but at least she was lucid. Then her BG started dropping like a rock and she was pea green with nausea. Of course, we sent her straight to the ER.

when I think how this could have turned out...If the mom had not realized her error and called me, I would never have suspected. I would have checked the BG, seen that it was up a little, and probably sent her back to class where she surely would have passed out, seized or even died! This little girl dodged a major bullet today.

Makes me realize that I always have to stay on my toes. Sometimes those hoofbeats really are zebras.

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Specializes in Med Office, Home Health, School Nurse.

Oh my goodness! Bless her little heart!! It's always scary to realize that mistakes happen and we have to be on the lookout for every little detail. Kudos to you for your quick thinking and reaction!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

omg ......did you say 70....seven-0 units ?? omg !!!:eek:

praiser

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Wait... was it an extra 70 G of carb coverage... or an extra 70 UNITS OF INSULIN????

How could that possibly happen w the pump??

Or did mom give an injection of regular insulin thinking it was long-acting insulin??

I would really like to know how this happened.

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Specializes in ER.

Holy chocolate bars Batman!

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.

Yeah, I had the same reaction. Mom said she was changing the tubing and she couldn't find the "new" tubing. So she found some "old" tubing that fit. You have to turn the pump off prior to inserting the needle in the skin. She forgot to turn off the pump and somehow it delivered a blast of insulin (priming maybe? I don't know) 70(seventy) units! Her blood sugar dropped like a rock! I thought I was gonna have to change my drawers! I have never seen ANYONE get that much insulin, much less a 9yo.

The good news is, the girl stayed at the hospital all day yesterday with IVs in both arms, eating ice cream, coke and other high carb foods. It took several hours to get her BG over 50, but eventually she got stable and went home. She was back in school today, looking spunky and feeling a whole lot better.

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WOW!!!!

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

my husband has been diabetic since he was in elementary school and all i can say is omg!:eek:

at least mom didn't try to cover her mistake.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

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Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
my husband has been diabetic since he was in elementary school and all i can say is omg!:eek:

at least mom didn't try to cover her mistake.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

or try to find some way to blame the nurse.

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Specializes in medical/telemetry/IR.

so I guess she didn't disconnect when she was priming? 70units would sure hurt going in.

pumps have a safety features-max bolus and max daily

our max bolus is around 20 units and max units per day is around 70 units

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