Postpartum hemorrhage kit

lisamct · Dec 3, 2008

The unit I trained in had one (this is in the UK so contents might be a bit different) Ours contained;

IV fluids (Harmanns, NaCl etc)

Gelafusin

Venflons

Venflon dressings

Tape

IV tubing sets

Blood bottles

Needles

IV fluid labels

Gloves

Sterile speculum

Torch

Sterile swabs

Theatre paperwork pack (includes everyhting you might need if going to theatre including consent forms, checklists, tape measure, fluid balance forms, anaesthetic forms etc)

We also have a 'quick grab' box in the fridge that includes one box each of Syntocinon, Syntometrine and Ergometrine.

canuk_chick · Dec 3, 2008

We do have a PPH cart on our floor. I'm not sure the exact contents, but it contains these for sure:

2 bags IV pentaspan

++syntocinon

syringes

RL and NS

Foley's

catheter trays

IV start supplies

cytotec

soaker pads

clipboard and paper to write times and whatnot on for charting later

the PPH policy

Its actually kinda nice, and relatively new on our floor. I Haven't had a pph (knock on wood) since we got it on the floor though.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Dec 4, 2008

Just curious, to see if there's anything in yours that we ought to have in ours. Having a foley isn't a bad idea - don't think we have one in our kit, nor do we have needles.

We do keep stocked in the fridge Hemabate & methergine, which are I the same things as Syntometrine & Ergometrine.

One thing we keep in there are elbow length gloves in case the MD had to do a manual clot extraction. Is that something that's generally kept in the room, or are manuals not done in Canada or the UK? Just curious.

Thanks for your replies.

canuk_chick · Dec 4, 2008

Just curious, to see if there's anything in yours that we ought to have in ours. Having a foley isn't a bad idea - don't think we have one in our kit, nor do we have needles.
We do keep stocked in the fridge Hemabate & methergine, which are I the same things as Syntometrine & Ergometrine.
One thing we keep in there are elbow length gloves in case the MD had to do a manual clot extraction. Is that something that's generally kept in the room, or are manuals not done in Canada or the UK? Just curious.
Thanks for your replies.

We stock Hemabate in our fridge as well, although we're not using it as much anymore. Now that you mention it, we do have sterile gloves in our kits as well. They are not elbow length but they are the longest gloves we have on our unit. We do manuals in canada, just forgot about them!

Elbow length gloves would be nice for "fishing clots out of the toilets" which i think is nasty.

lisamct · Dec 4, 2008

We do manual removals of clots here too but just using the usual mid-forearm length sterile gloves. We do have full arm length gloves that we use in the birthing pool so it might be an idea to stick a few pairs in the pph box.

I forgot we do also keep foleys and catheter bags in the box too.

SmilingBluEyes · Dec 4, 2008

I think having a "kit" is a great idea; have never worked where one was so handy as you all talk of! We have no such kit, but we keep a basin that has hemabate and methergine and syringes/needles handy. It takes no time at all to fetch the foley if needed, and IV supplies. We keep sterile gloves, pads and plenty of bed pads in each room, handy at all times. It takes seconds to gather what I need to deal with a PP hemorrage. And, I have dealt with quite a few hemorrhages in my career. One of the very FIRST things I learned, is , nothing is much more vital and necessary than a second (or third if things are bad) set of HANDS IN THE ROOM to help you. If you have a pt hemorrhaging, the first thing to do is call out and get help before attempting to assemble or get a kit, or even thinking of leaving the room. That person can be your runner, recorder, or make the calls to the MD or midwife as needed while you deal with the patient yourself. No kit replaces knowledgeable and helpful hands right there when we are in the "thick of it".

RNBelle · Dec 5, 2008

I have never worked in a place that has a kit. I will have to ask about it and maybe get one going.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Dec 5, 2008

We've had one for a couple years now...but it's funny, when we have a PPH, mostly everybody just runs and gets everything, to hell with the kit. It might make things easier if we could actually REMEMBER that it's there!

hippienurse · Dec 6, 2008

Hmmmmm, very interesting to read what people use in their *kits*. Our PPH kit is just a med kit we are required to have in the room once in active labor. It has 800mcg of cytotec, 10mg IM pit, methergine (0.25mg I think?)

It might be a good idea to have other supplies already together in a pack, like a precip pack...