Rituxan Spill... IV disconnected from patient

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Specializes in ONcology.

Please help and i need info.... i'm an oncology RN...

i was giving Rituxan yesterday to a patient... i found an IV disconnected from the patient on the bed with about 2mls leak on the gown... i wasn't wearing my mask but had a chemo gloves on me when i connected the iv back and changed the patient's gown. I'm freaking out now... i might have inhaled the drug as i wasn't wearing any mask. I'm off today and dead tired and worried. i tried to look up online the " the risk of inhaling rituxan" i couldn't find any infor...please help... thank you

Should i go to the ED or call my primary MD...???

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

Did you bring in your spill kit.....that is what you should have done...generally 5 ml or less is considered a small spill. Your spill kit has very specific instructions on what to do. At this point you need to call employee health . There are many new products on the market that will actually prevent a disconnection like this...it is sent out by pharmacy...Phaseal has an entire product line...its about time nurses start shouting about minimizing or eliminate the risks of chemical exposure in the workplace

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Specializes in NICU, Vascular, Oncology, Telemetry.

I work in an outpatient Onc clinic and we give Rituxan quite regularly (whether it be rapid or long). It's a monoclonal antibody, so it's not as....what's the word I'm looking for? Destructive (??) as a true chemo. Also, we don't ever wear masks....this has never even been mentioned? You should be fine as long as you used a spill kit, followed the instructions and wore chemo-grade gloves. Your spill happened a few months ago I see -- how did everything turn out?

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that is right

Rituxan is technically not chemotherapy it is a targeted biological tx, a monoclonal antibody

targets cells: CD20

I would worry that the patient didnt get his full dose

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Specializes in Oncology/Haematology/Stem Cell Transplant, Med/Sur.

I also wonder about infection control. If a IV is disconnected even with chemo, surely you can't just hook it up to patient and soldier on. What are your thought on this?

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Agree....tubing needs changing for sure. Usually, chemotherapy tubing is luer locked or luer locked and taped to prevent unintended disconnection.

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