I took care of a 610 gm. preemie the other day who is being given IM injections of Vit. A 3x a week. I've never seen this before, it's a new tx for chronic lung disease...apparently it can't be given IV!!!
This seems so harsh for such a little baby. The baby already has a huge bruise from the injection.
Do the benefits of the drug outweigh the bruising and pain of the injection?
I'm having a hard time with this. Don't most preemies this small get lung disease the majority of the time?
Is Vit. A REALLY that effective?
Has anyone here had to give a 610 gm. baby a SHOT?
I've never had to, didn't have to on this baby either, but the leg loooked so bad and the docs verified no IV administration!
I've had babies on cannulas in room air before, sometimes they just need the liter flow for stimilation to help them breathe.
Yep, we'll do 1 or 2 LPM airflow and only blend in enough oxygen to help the baby saturate within the ordered range. If it's more than 2 LPM, we'll use the Fisher Paykel high flow humidified cannulas up to 6 LPM, also often on room air. With that, it's not just for stimulation, but it also creates almost like a CPAP effect - when you listen to their chests you can hear the airflow inflating their lungs so they don't have to breathe quite so hard.
We give it at our hospital. 2-3 x's per week...I believe it is for their eyes - NOT for chronic lung disease. We use a 30G needle and yes- the first time I gave an injection I expected to hit bone in such a tiny baby...but nope...I have never seen a baby with a "huge bruise" on the thigh from it either...perhaps someones technique was a little off??
Gompers, BSN, RN
2,691 Posts
Yep, we'll do 1 or 2 LPM airflow and only blend in enough oxygen to help the baby saturate within the ordered range. If it's more than 2 LPM, we'll use the Fisher Paykel high flow humidified cannulas up to 6 LPM, also often on room air. With that, it's not just for stimulation, but it also creates almost like a CPAP effect - when you listen to their chests you can hear the airflow inflating their lungs so they don't have to breathe quite so hard.