WFI was possibly used to prime a 3 way tap- Advice please!

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I would like an opinion on the following scenario, my friend (also a nurse) has asked me a question which I'm not sure on, she is quite stressed about not knowing the answer so i thought I'd ask here :)

Apparently after a priming a 3 way tap for a PIVC she realised a few hours later that in a rush she may have grabbed a Water for injection instead of a normal saline.

Are there any consequences from priming with WFI? has this happened to anyone before?

I wasn't sure on any adverse affects because only a few mls of WFI would have been used. Any advice to ease her mind would be appreciated, I'm also quite curious!

thank you

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Specializes in ICU.

WFI? Did she HANG water (confused how you would do this) or just somehow prime the tubing with it? Just curious, what country are you in? I'm having a hard time understanding this. Or maybe I'm just slightly stupid from being up for 24 hours:)

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Specializes in Hem/Onc/BMT.

I'm not sure what 3 way tap or PIVC are, but I don't think a few mls of water would be problematic. It was sterile water, right?

It would be a different story if the patient received a large bolus or continuous infusion of water, but I assume just a few millimeters would be negligible to have any adverse effect from its hypotonicity.

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