Help! I feel horrible.....

[ajstegall]

Ok. So. Kinda hard to explain this, but I will try my best. I feel horrible.. I work at a hospital as a transporter and today i went to get a patient from the floor for an X-ray. So, as I am there putting the IV bag on my stretcher pole, the pole extension drops and the IV bag falls on the floor (disconnecting from the IV sucking regulator thing, where the drip chamber is) and fluids leak out. Keep in mind i am in nursing school and i should know better, but i told the nurse that the bag "dropped" and she hooked the IV bag back together but i failed to inform her that it "dropped on the floor".....yikes.. i know once something hits the floor it is contaminated!!! So, why did I not say something to her about it hitting the floor and letting her hook it back up????!!! Once i got back up stairs i told her the bag "hit the floor" and she said "i swabbed the bottom of the bag w/ alcohol".. which made me feel a little better but she said that "i didnt tell her it hit the floor" and didnt seem to make a big deal out of it. but i am still worried about the patient coming down with some kind of blood disease or something. i feel horrible.. and i feel like a failure bc i will be a nurse soon, and i cannot afford to make mistakes like that. i dont know... i basically just neeed to vent and was maybe wondering if anyone else here might have experiencced something similar.. thanks for listening.....

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I think you can put your mind at ease. The nurse would have let you know and notified the physician if there was a huge risk of contaminating the patient. IV bags are pretty closed loop other than the connection site.

[ajstegall]

it came apart at the connection site and fluids leaked out.. and im pretty sure the connection site hit the floor.

[ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN]

she alcohol swabbed it, it should be fine... when they are not hooked up to the iv, their actual connection site connected to their arm touches the dirty bed, when you connect anything to it, it is swabbed first before being reconnected... if it was that serious the nurse would have probably had more of a reaction.

[ajstegall]

yeah you all are right. i just need to see it as learning from a mistake.

[Seas]

I don't think swabbing it with alcohol would work in this case. The fluid was spread on the floor, maybe some fluid backed up in the bag while it fell. Then no matter how much you alcohol swab the opening of the bag, the fluid is still contaminated.

Also, the IV tubing part of it. Didn't it hit the floor as well? Gravity. We were taught not to alcohol swab that sharp end where we spike the bag (I forget its name) , because it wouldn't help it either. Once it is on the floor, it is contaminated forever. You just got to toss it and get a new one.

Yes, you should have told the nurse before she hooked it back. There is your fault. Also, that nurse should have known better and changed the whole thing once you told her what happened.

Anyway, a learning experience for you. I am sure you will be more careful next time.

[ajstegall]

it happened too fast but i dont think the sharp end that spikes the bag hit the floor. just the bag hit the floor. either way, i just hope everything is ok and now i will never kno if the pt is ok or not ok.. its all on my conscience.... damn.