vhrn

I was a receptionist in a pediatric clinic. My older sister, whom our mother adored, was a nurse--OB/GYN, then house supervisor in a small rural hospital. My parents were aging, my sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and became disabled. I knew enough about the health care system that I figured someone in the family should have medical knowledge in order to look out for everyone else, and since I was the only one left, I decided to quit my job, return to school, and become a nurse. So, at the age of 34 with a 13 year old son and a son who was less than 2 years old, and a husband on shift work, I started nursing school. During my first quarter of school, my husband lost his job so I got a part time job as a nursing assistant. I had received a scholarship from the nursing office of the hospital and as terms of that scholarship, I had to be a full time student with a full course load. I was the only NA on a 34 bed telemetry floor on evening shift after school and weekends, worked like a dog, and managed to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA. Yes, I am proud of myself, and so glad I did it. I love my job, most of the time.

Another issue concerning blood transfusions: I recently wrote in regarding running other IVF and gtts in the same peripheral angiocath with PRBC transfusion: Now, there is another issue. Not only will my hospital not allow IVF and gtts to run with PRBCs through a peripheral angiocath, which is correct, we got an email saying we cannot run PRBC or other blood products through a multilumen central line, with other IVF/gtts infusing through a separate lumen. I cannot find printed information online that clarifies this. Any suggestions?

The only reason I even mentioned calling the Red Cross is that we have only one nurse in our ICU who runs other IVF to the same site with blood. I personally have followed her twice when this was done. I've gone to our manager (2 different ones, one for each occurrence), and the incident wasn't addressed.

As many other nurses replied, to run other meds/IVF (especially dextrose, and many gtts/ivpb's are mixed in dextrose) with blood, can cause clumping of the PRC's. To me, that means, if the PRC's clump, there are little "clots" running around in your vasculature, looking for a place to cause a problem, i.e. stroke or MI. Right, out there?

Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate your reinforcing what I already knew, and thanks for the link to americasblood. My coworker and I searched the Red Cross site and launched numerous other searches last night but were unable to find much, unfortunately. Thanks again.

Thanks for reinforcing what I already knew. I agree, if pt needs meds during the tx, stop blood, flush, med, flush, resume blood. I appreciate your reply.

Maybe I'm just old and behind times, but I was taught that NOTHING is to run into the same IV site as a blood transfusion. I work with a nurse whom I have followed on 2 separate occasions who ran Versed into the same site as blood (PRC's), and NS w/20 KCL and a Zofran gtt y'd into the same angiocath as PRBC's. Can someone out there tell me I need to lighten up, or do I need to call the Red Cross??