The patient was in the Emergency Department (ED) at Broome Hospital and I believe it was decided that the best course of action was an IV antibiotic infusion of Vancomycin. Unfortunately, I believe the infusion was administered too quickly, which I feel, resulted in the patient having a reaction.
The patient said they felt they had the worst reaction and thought they were going to die. Shaking, and all their muscles were convulsing, they felt they couldn’t breathe. They told me it felt like their chest was strapped down. I believe the patient had been put in a room where there was no nurse buzzer and they couldn’t call out because their teeth were chattering, so the patient said they folded the drip line to make the alarm on the drip go off. They said the had never been so cold in their life.
I believe the patient was told by the staff that the infusion had been given too quickly and had suffered from “Red Man Syndrome”.
The questions I believe require answers are:
a) Why was there no nurse call button in the room and,
b) why was the drug administered so quickly?
In my opinion, the situation was preventable and with better process and monitoring there should be no recurrence. I feel the situation should not have happened and if not for the quick thinking of the patient, I believe there could have been a very tragic outcome.
"Experience in the ED"
About: Broome Health Campus / Emergency Department Broome Health Campus Emergency Department Broome 6725
Posted by Buzzer (as ),
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