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Care Opinion

Experience in the ED

Posted By Buzzer

"Experience in the ED"

About: Broome Health Campus / Emergency Department

(as a relative),

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.

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Responses

Response from Bec Smith, Regional Director, WACHS - Kimberley 4 years ago
Bec Smith
Regional Director,
WACHS - Kimberley

Submitted on 18/02/2020 at 12:08 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:09 PM

picture of Bec Smith

Dear Buzzer,

Thank you very much for sharing your story about your child’s experience at the Broome Hospital Emergency Department. I was so sorry to read what happened to your child. This must have been a really distressing and scary experience for both of you.

I have discussed your story with the Broome Hospital Operations Manager, the Regional Director of Medical Services, the Broome Senior Medical Officer and the Broome Coordinator of Nursing. As Patient Opinion is an anonymous platform we are not able to identify who your child is, which is making it challenging to review the care that they received.

With this in mind, I would very much appreciate it if you could please make contact with the Broome Hospital Acting Operations Manager Rachele Ferrari so that we can look into the care your child received. If you are happy to, please contact Rachele on 08 9195 2855 or by email at bmopsmanager@health.wa.gov.au. Alternatively, you could meet Rachele for a coffee or juice on site at the hospital. We are happy to do whatever will work for you.

I would like to assure you that there are protocols in place around vancomycin administration, which reduce the risk of an adverse reaction such as Red Man Syndrome. Without knowing who your child is, unfortunately, we cannot review the care that they received, which includes whether the correct protocol was followed, if any reactions that your child may have experienced were noted and if appropriate actions were taken.

In relation to the call bells, I understand that all of the rooms in which we deliver care have call bells installed. I will arrange the Operations Manager to do a review of this to ensure the bells are in place and are working, visible and accessible.

Thank you again for raising your concerns with us. It is so important for us to be able to grow and improve our services for those who are unwell and vulnerable. I hope your child is fully recovered and feeling better. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely

Bec

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Response from Rachele Ferrari, Operations Manager, Broome Hospital, WACHS Kimberley 4 years ago
Rachele Ferrari
Operations Manager, Broome Hospital,
WACHS Kimberley

Submitted on 20/02/2020 at 8:01 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 21/02/2020 at 9:45 AM

picture of Rachele Ferrari

Dear Buzzer,

Thank you so much for contacting me yesterday, it was good to talk to you about your child's experience and to understand more about the concerns you have in relation to their care.

Knowing more about their visit to Broome Hospital means we can now review the care that was provided and as promised, speak to you once this is complete.

I very much appreciate you contacting me and will speak to you very soon,

Kind regards,

Rachele Ferrari

Operations Manager, Broome Regional Health Campus

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