Hello to all. I recently posted on being fired. My hopes are back and I am now once again hitting the employment scene. The nursing career should have me a job in no time!!
I have an additional question about hanging blood. My nursing judgement on this procedure differed from my preceptor's. The pt. was an elderly women who has never had a blood transfusion before. Trying to be independent and show my preceptor that I am capable of making appropriate and safe nursing judgements I got the blood going on my own. Of course after it was checked off by another nurse. After the blood reaches the pt. I was doing the required staying with pt. for the first 15 minutes. I set the pump rate at 42ml/hr (my mom who is a veteran nurse always set her first 15 minutes at 25ml/hr) for my first 15 minutes. After the intial 15 minutes are up and I see no sign of a tranfusion reaction I bump the rate up to 125ml/hr.
My preceptor acted as if that was the most wacked out thing I could have ever done. She said "what are you doing? That is no way to do this. Where did you go to school?". I proceded to explain my rationale. During my explanation she put the rate up to 125ml/hr and said "Now just leave that alone." Then she exited the room with out even giving me the opportunity to finish or even discuss my rationale with me. Once again I was standing there observing and evaluating my pt. under someone elses nursing judgement.
I would like input on what any of you have done when starting blood. I should also note tha I am aware that the intial 15 minutes does not start until the blood enters the pt. vein. So I do run it at a faster rate until it reaches the vein, then I reduce the rate.
If I would have handled the situation differently I should have told her to stay with the pt. for the first 15 minutes as I did not want to be held accountable for a potential adverse reaction.
Any input wuld be greatly appreciated! Have a great day!!!
Jennifer :smilecoffeecup: (time for my am coffee!)
