Patients dead from infected IV's....

Published

They are blaming the pharmacy where the TPN was pre-mixed at.

Apparently this one pharmacy delivered TPN to all of the hospitals.

When we heard it was serratia everyone was like, "How in the hell did that happen?"

We all trying to think of a scenario of where this could happen accidentally.

Half of the techs say it sounds intentional. Now if this was ecoli we could all just say a nasty pharmacy tech didn't wash their hands, but this bug sound really weird.

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

Serratia marcescens is the bug that grows in your shower and turns pink when you haven't cleaned it very well in a while. It loves damp conditions, and proliferates in phosphoric and also in fatty substances (which is usually in TPN).

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This could go back even further than the pharmacy, to the manufacturer of the bags.

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This could go back even further than the pharmacy, to the manufacturer of the bags.

Are these bags typically imports made in China, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, or someplace like that? I'm only a student nurse but when I worked in chemical engineering, all of the new plastics plants were being built overseas. But if they are making plastics resins overseas, I'd wager the bags are also made there.

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
Are these bags typically imports made in China, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, or someplace like that? I'm only a student nurse but when I worked in chemical engineering, all of the new plastics plants were being built overseas. But if they are making plastics resins overseas, I'd wager the bags are also made there.

but where are they cleaned and sterilised ? i would suspect it may be more cost effective to ship them in bulk non sterile then clean and disinfect before filling and sterilise ...

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but where are they cleaned and sterilised ? i would suspect it may be more cost effective to ship them in bulk non sterile then clean and disinfect before filling and sterilise ...

perhaps so, but if you are paying for sterile, you expect to get it.....perhaps there needs to be f/u here?

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

My bet is that it was hanging out in the lipids.

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Specializes in ER.
My bet is that it was hanging out in the lipids.

why? Does this bug gravitate towards lipids?

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

It likes to stay moist, and likes phosphoric and fatty mediums.

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
perhaps so, but if you are paying for sterile, you expect to get it.....perhaps there needs to be f/u here?

i have some woosh for you here, the comment was to address the casual racism of the person who assumed that the bags must have been made and sterilised by dirty natives in the third world because the raw materials are made out there ...

if it is a failure of sterilisation or of effective disinfection prior to filling and sterilisation of course it needs to be addressed ...

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Fascinating. I wonder what other biological experiments were carried out that remain secret.

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