Old IV tubing from HIV patient hooked up to a new patient!

[RNStudy]

Just curious,

If you new of a nurse who "accidently" hooked up old IV tubing that belonged to a prevoious patient who had AIDS, to a new patient thinking it was that patients IV tubing, what would you think of that nurse?

In my opinion, if you do such a thing as a nurse I would deem you UNSAFE and would NOT want you as my nurse.

Does anyone agree with me that the nurse should have been fired?

[leslie :-D]

In closing, I just wanted to add that this thread was about an unsafe nurse and how she is still practicing...to me this is scary.

to me, this is about a nurse who made an unsafe mistake.

how many of us have made mistakes, only to be very grateful that no one was harmed?

as for what kind of nurse she is, that is not known.

leslie

[fiveofpeep]

Thanks for the civilized response OP :)

What are your thoughts on what others have said about how this was a systems error rather than an individual one?

Since you seem to think this nurse was unsafe, please let us know how she could have known that the tubing was not her patients?

Maybe instead of blaming an individual, you could try to actually prevent this from occurring again by researching and suggesting ways to prevent it from occurring. I bet your boss would be receptive to this and such proactivity and team work might win your job back.

[RN1982]

Thank you for your support Me'Chelle! I have learned a lot from this experience.

I find it interesting how my intent of this particular thread was taken far from its context. This thread is how an experienced RN was completely negligent by connecting old tubing to a new patient.

Personally, as an RN, ones main concern is always patients safety FIRST. This means, whether it is airway or even properly identifying tubing and fluids prior to just "hooking" up tubing to a patient...tubing which you didnt even see who put it there. This RN was extremely unsafe and also negligent.

Anyone who posted negative commenets towards me such as "L OOK AT YOURSELF": I have. I feel I am a good nurse who is continously improving and growing. I learn something new everyday. I have no anger or hostility against this particular RN, nor do I have hostility to you guys who have posted such negative things.

As a minority nurse I feel I have to work twice as hard. Guess what? Thats fine by me. I am strong and have faith in my skills and ability to be a great nurse. Unless you personally have walked in my shoes (or CROCS, lol) then I feel you cant state that everyone is treated equally.

In closing, I just wanted to add that this thread was about an unsafe nurse and how she is still practicing...to me this is scary.

Thank you all for listening.

What does the fact that you are a minority have to do with any of this? I'm sorry, this was a process error, not an individual error. I feel really sorry that you find it necessary to outright blame the nurse and not the process. Mistakes happen, hell I've made them myself (med errors) but you know what I feel I am safe. You live and learn. Stop trying to be a martyr and move on. You are just angry you were let go from your job. You are too concerned about other people than focusing on what's really important, yourself.

[RedCell]

this rn was extremely unsafe and also negligent.

as a minority nurse i feel i have to work twice as hard. guess what? thats fine by me. i am strong and have faith in my skills and ability to be a great nurse. unless you personally have walked in my shoes (or crocs, lol) then i feel you cant state that everyone is treated equally.

vanlo001 is right in stating that what you describe is a mistake involving more than just one nurse. as the previous poster mentioned, an incident report should be completed and appropriate measures need to be taken in order to prevent this from happening again. you complaining about this nurse to a bunch of screen names online is not going to make that patient (or any other patient) any safer. maybe you could be proactive and become involved with a committee to see what can be done to improve patient care in the institution that this occurred in.

i do not buy your minority hoopla as it has never slowed me down. i believe it to be a copout and personal excuse you have made to justify the current predicament that you have gotten yourself into. probably the best advice in order to "improve and grow" as a nurse would be to follow the attendance policy better at your next job and worry less about what others around you are getting away with.

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

I am going to close this thread for a staff review