Ok I am not a nurse yet. I actually start my nursing program in the fall. I worked this weekend with a nurse that has been working as a nurse for more than 11 years. She went about 5:00 am to get her blood sugars. I think she had ten of them to get. She gets her last one, and before the timer ends she comes to the desk where I was charting and was talking to us. When the test finished she said OMG Mrs. _________ bs is 14. I said are you sure. She practically screams at me I have already done 9 of them and they were all right. So I go down to the residents room (she was on my hall that night and I knew she was ok). Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't a BS of 14 mean coma or next to death? Any way the nurse gathers up all the supplies (lab supplies). I am in the residents room and when the nurse comes in Mrs. _________and I are talking to each other. I asked the nurse if she might would want to check the BS again just to make sure that it wasn't a faulty strip or something again the nurse says to me "Sue I have done ten of these already and all of them were ok." I said ok that may be true but wouldn't there be other signs and symptoms if her BS was that low. SO she turns to the pt. and says to her while she is pulling out the stuff to draw her blood and says "Honey your BS is 14 and we are going to have to draw blood to send to the lab" and then she says to the resident I am going to have to shoot your veins with sugar water. OMG I about died. Again and this time so the resident could hear me, I say shouldn't you check it again just to be sure. The nurse gets all huffy and says "I will but I will have to send labs out" Now I don't know all there is to the bs thing. But I do know that I would check it again before I drew blood or "shoot her veins" with sugar water of which I have never heard of doing. I don't know if the nurse was just saying that or if it is a new procedure. So she tries first to "milk" more blood out of the first finger stick from at least 10 min ago and she can't get any more blood. So she goes to her other hand gets the blood and now the BS is 207. Still not admitting that the 14 was a wrong read she turns to me and seriously said I have never seen that much of a difference between Left hand and right hand. The resident is very alert and knows what all we are talking about. So when the nurse tells her that her BS is 14 and is preparing to draw blood the residents eyes are as big as saucers and looks to me for I guess an explanation. I don't know what to say or do. I know that if she had of insisted on doing anything before she checked the sugar again I would have called our supervisor or DON or something.
What would have any of you done in the same situation? Would you automatically assume the BS was correct and follow protocol or would you retest to make sure? AND WHAT DOES SHOOT YOUR VEINS WITH SUGAR WATER MEAN?
I've seen many patients go into coma or even arrest from low blood sugar, sometimes while a nurse is dilly-dallying or not moving fast enough, but I've never seen a patient hurt from receiving D50
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
WOW...my patients glucometers won't even go that low..LOL! I work in assisted living, so I don't have the IV's or what not to help, so I have to go by common sence or treat via 9-11!
One, retest! If they are alert something is wrong with the glucometer big time! I had a patient that registered 32 and was slightly confused only..retook on a different machine that I had with a new battery (we also test all residents glucometers weekly) and it was 340 something...oh great..if I didn't retest and gave sugars..oh boy oh boy! (NIDDM patient too). So good thing I retested, and got her glucometer a good clean out, test and new battery! (good as new after that!).
Even in the 30 range I am questioning the results if a patient is alert! But I know my residents well and know that for the most part, 50 is as low as these particular people seem to go, and that is followed by serious confusion and loss of consciousness (I am rather lucky there, I know these guys too well!). When I worked in hospital I simply asked them what their highest and lowest ever was and the symptoms that was very helpful!
and yes READ the PATIENT, not the MACHINE...treat that way as well! (I could write volumes on pulse ox results being wrong, or EKG's going nutty).
Gaaaawwd, i remember when my next door neighbor called me over in a panic stating her dh hadn't eaten (brittle diabetic) and she had to run to mcdonalds to get something to eat for him.
i ran over; he was extremely diaphoretic, drowsy and disoriented. and she was right-there was no damned food in the house.
i ended up making a sugar/water concoction/syrup and administering it in his cheeks, under his tongue- kept on doing it until i could see an improvement, more alert.
stuff like that is scary as his loc was greatly diminished and had to make do with what i could find.
this happened last year.
now he's a bil aka, and on dialysis 4x/week. very sick man and only around 50.
my point is mixing sugar and a little bit of water is extremely effective if you ever happen to treat a low bs with a person nearing unconciousness.
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
Oh man, I remember doing a ride along and the cops got a transient that was what they thought "drunk". They were being so rough really because he was so limp and they felt he was doing it on purpose, not to mention the poor guy was combative to a point.
The paramedic and I wanted to test his CBG, but the cops said he was too combative. Okayyyyyyy...then hold him! We got his CBG and it was in the 40's...he wasn't drunk..he was hypoglycemic!!!
Took quite the time to convience the cops he needed immediate medical attention...but once we said "then why did you call for medical???" they kinda relented. I also reminded them if he was drunk..his CBG would have been very high..ya know, that whole fermented sugar deal???" LOL!!!!!
Poor guy, they really did kinda ruff him up a bit...but I also see it from the cops point of view (I should say police really huh..LOL, but I call my police cops and they call me a pillow fluffer! LOL! Small town go figure!).
that was very helpful!
joyful nurse
26 Posts
I've seen many patients go into coma or even arrest from low blood sugar, sometimes while a nurse is dilly-dallying or not moving fast enough, but I've never seen a patient hurt from receiving D50