Just gave Epi for the first time

Published

Happened at 11:25 this morning and am finally not shaking anymore. Kindergarten kiddo. Doing fine, under observation at ER right now for the next few hours. I need a glass (or three) of wine. Is it June 23rd yet????

Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
We have a less than ideal process for serving lunch here and that is one of the things we learned from this lovely experience. I keep reminding myself that thankfully he is fine (back at school this morning) and we can always use our experiences to improve ;)

I look at it this way: We all learned something and nobody died. Win Win!

And yes, gratitude for everything!

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Specializes in School Nursing, Pediatrics.

Great job!!! I get out the 21 st of June....hang in there!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
I just my first epi last week as well- student had walk a good distance with her epi on her with symptoms before showing up at my door. One look at her and a holy **** later epi was in...

And BAM to you too purplewaves!! Chalk up another kid being snatched from the jaws of death!! You prevented some parents from experiencing the worst day of their life. Praise be to God and praise be to you for coming through in a desperate time of need for this child. Most excellent!!

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Specializes in Psych, Peds, Education, Infection Control.

GREAT JOB! Thank goodness the kiddo had a school nurse available.

You'll never forget your first. Mine, I had to literally run across the entire (very large) high school campus to get to the kid (a teenager, alas, who knew better but ate the allergen anyway because she figured "a little bit will be okay"). She was freaking out too much to self-administer. With my asthma, I'm not sure which of us was shaking harder at the end (though MY natural adrenaline release was a nice boost for the airways!). She was fine, thankfully, but I did have to provide a bit of gentle education to this (gifted/talented) student that, no, if you're anaphylactic to something and you know it, "a little bit" will not be okay because you "haven't had a reaction in a long time" (by avoiding it).

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GREAT JOB! Thank goodness the kiddo had a school nurse available.

You'll never forget your first. Mine, I had to literally run across the entire (very large) high school campus to get to the kid (a teenager, alas, who knew better but ate the allergen anyway because she figured "a little bit will be okay"). She was freaking out too much to self-administer. With my asthma, I'm not sure which of us was shaking harder at the end (though MY natural adrenaline release was a nice boost for the airways!). She was fine, thankfully, but I did have to provide a bit of gentle education to this (gifted/talented) student that, no, if you're anaphylactic to something and you know it, "a little bit" will not be okay because you "haven't had a reaction in a long time" (by avoiding it).

My freshman year of college, a girl in my dorm had an airborne peanut allergy. She intentionally opened and inhaled peanut butter to avoid a test! Within a minute, her eyes were swollen shut, lips gigantic, wheezing...so scary. So not worth risking your life to avoid a bad grade on an exam.

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Great Job! It feels good to save a life. That's what we do!

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Awesome! Good job and that kid is very lucky you were there!

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
With my asthma, I'm not sure which of us was shaking harder at the end (though MY natural adrenaline release was a nice boost for the airways!).

Not only are you magical, you are more priceless than rubies!

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Whose idea was it that school nurses are no longer necessary???

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Specializes in CPN.

Way to go!! I had my first Epi admin a couple weeks ago. It TERRIFIED me and I was definitely longing for the days of hospital debriefing meetings! My kiddo was a previously unknown allergen anaphylaxis reaction - to a slushy! No resp compromise, but he was worsening pretty quickly (tongue numbness, diaphoretic, facial swelling vomiting). Fortunately, we stock Epi here and I was able to administer some with grandma's go ahead (it was a day expired).

The craziest part to me is that the admin literally has no clue this kid could have died without prompt treatment. They all poked their heads in for a brief moment after EMS got here and then I never heard another word from them... not even to follow up on the kid. Meanwhile, a kid gets a 3cm lac with no artery involvement, but they are freaking out calling 911 because it takes me less than 2 minutes to get back to the clinic from outside. SMH

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Specializes in School nursing.
Way to go!! I had my first Epi admin a couple weeks ago. It TERRIFIED me and I was definitely longing for the days of hospital debriefing meetings! My kiddo was a previously unknown allergen anaphylaxis reaction - to a slushy! No resp compromise, but he was worsening pretty quickly (tongue numbness, diaphoretic, facial swelling vomiting). Fortunately, we stock Epi here and I was able to administer some with grandma's go ahead (it was a day expired).

The craziest part to me is that the admin literally has no clue this kid could have died without prompt treatment. They all poked their heads in for a brief moment after EMS got here and then I never heard another word from them... not even to follow up on the kid. Meanwhile, a kid gets a 3cm lac with no artery involvement, but they are freaking out calling 911 because it takes me less than 2 minutes to get back to the clinic from outside. SMH

Welcome to school nursing, where your definition of an emergency is completely different from everyone else's definition of an emergency!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Way to go!! I had my first Epi admin a couple weeks ago. It TERRIFIED me and I was definitely longing for the days of hospital debriefing meetings! My kiddo was a previously unknown allergen anaphylaxis reaction - to a slushy! No resp compromise, but he was worsening pretty quickly (tongue numbness, diaphoretic, facial swelling vomiting). Fortunately, we stock Epi here and I was able to administer some with grandma's go ahead (it was a day expired).

The craziest part to me is that the admin literally has no clue this kid could have died without prompt treatment. They all poked their heads in for a brief moment after EMS got here and then I never heard another word from them... not even to follow up on the kid. Meanwhile, a kid gets a 3cm lac with no artery involvement, but they are freaking out calling 911 because it takes me less than 2 minutes to get back to the clinic from outside. SMH

Another family is celebrating the continuance of life for their little one...all because of rapid assessment and prompt intervention by pedi_nurse who...Bam! Snatched another kid from the jaws of death! School nurses, that's what we do! Praise be to God and praise be to you for being there to thwart this child's encounter with death.:yes:

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