charlimoon

Hi, I have been working on a paediatric ward in the UK for about 18 months now. Yesterday I was looking after two babies both with suspected sepsis, both who required lumbar punctures. They had already been treated with IV antibiotics for 24 hours and were both clinically quite well, considering. I have seen and assisted with LPs several times before but never held on my own. The doctor managed to get clear samples on both babies on the first try, so I'm pretty sure I held them both fine, but I was holding them so firmly I'm worried I will have left some kind of bruising. Does this happen with this kind of procedure? Did I hold them too tight? I'm quite a small, weak little thing and the muscles of my upper arms and shoulders are really hurting this morning! I've held many children and babies for bloods and cannulas and never left a bruise before... I'm not in for a few days now and I guess I'm just worried about what may happen/be said while I'm not there (I don't even know that there is any bruising at all but I'm massively overthinking this!!).

I've just realised I've probably posted this in the wrong thread, so sorry if that's the case!

Last night I was infusing IV Ceftriaxone into my 10 month old patient's hand. It flushed fine, I connected the IV, wrapped the cannula back up with a crepe bandage and set the 50ml infusion to run over 30 minutes. 20 minutes later she was screaming and crying and wouldn't settle at all so I stopped the infusion, checked the site, and found that the IV had infiltrated. Her hand was swollen about 2x the size of her other one. I got the charge nurse and one of the doctors to come and check her over, we took the cannula out, and I monitored her hand for the rest of the shift. The swelling went down significantly, she was using the hand well, it was warm and well perfused and didn't seem to be hurting her, but I still can't stop thinking about it!! I've been a paediatric nurse for a year now and this has never happened to me before, which is why I think I'm worrying so much. I went for my break and had to go back early because I just couldn't relax and I stupidly started googling all the awful things that can happen to an infiltrated IV. I texted the nurse looking after her today and she said the doctors aren't concerned, and that the child's hand is less swollen than it was this morning but it's still quite puffy compared to the other. How long does swelling of this nature typically take to go down? And, as a nurse, do you ever stop constantly worrying about every single thing that you've done on your shift?!

Hi all, I'm a newly qualified children's nurse in the UK, I've been in my job for 5 months. I'm still settling in and getting used to being a registered nurse rather than a student, but I think I'm getting there! Yesterday the ward manager told me that two months ago there had been an incident where a nurse was giving an inhaler to a child, and they had been prescribed 100mcg (one puff). The child's mother said that the other nurses had been giving 2 puffs, and one of them was me, and I now have to write a reflection about it. I initially didn't remember because it was so long ago and we give inhalers to so many children, but now I remember that I definitely did give the 2 puffs instead of 1. I know it had no adverse effects at all, but now I'm starting to doubt myself with other medications, and that I'm not being meticulous enough when checking them. We double check most meds on our ward as well, and the nurse who checked that inhaler with me also has to write a reflection, and now I feel super guilty that she has to do that because of my mistake. I've had to work very hard to gain her respect and now I'm worried I'll have lost it again. I'm generally an over thinker and this is driving me mad. I couldn't sleep last night and then when I finally dropped off, I dreamt about it. I know I'm overreacting and the mistake was minor and I'm going to make mistakes in my career, but I just don't know how to stop beating myself up about it! Please help! x