Mel

It doesn't matter who poked the hole in, regardless of how the hole got there, it was a potential source of infection. You can't tape a hole in an IV bag...or a hole in an IV tube. You can tape connections of tubes to keep them secure, provided they are working to being with...you can not tape a 'leak' to stop it anywhere in the system....Forbotten!!!! NIX, NIE, in any language.

IVIG is given at x number of milligrams per minutes. If his time is 4 hours it is four hours....you may not know this but some agencies pay nurses by the visit...the shorter the visit the more pay they make, as they make more visits...they make exceptions for IV visits as they take longer.

IVIG is generally mixed by the pharmacy and delivered to the place of infusion. I had mine at an infusion center, which they insisted on me going to, despite being a home care nurse myself. Why? Because, one bag of IVIG contains antibodies from over 1,000 donors, and you never know when one of those donors may have some offending antibody which causes a reaction. usually people have a reaction right away, but not always.

Now the thing to do is watch for signs of infection, which are not the same as signs of infusion reaction.

This is not a minor error on the nurses part....what does she think she can do brain surgery too???

Alan likely has an immune system that can handle any germ he got, but you need to call attention to what occurred to you.

Call and speak with the nursing supervisor or director of nursing...not the secretary or scheduler.

Call your doc and let him know what happened.

You are likely going to be unable to prove how the hole got there and that is irrelevant...simply the fact that there was a puncture in the bag is enough to assume it is contaminated.

Transferring contaminated contents via sterile procedure is a joke.

Think of it this way....hm, some cockroach poop got poked into this bag and now I am going to sterily transfer the contents into a new sterile bag...(even though I am transferring cockroach poop contaminated liquid into a new bag.)

This is just an illustration, not what actually happened, but microbes are very tiny, thousands can enter in a pin prick. Millions enter our bodies everyday and we fight them off. Alan will likely not have any problem but if he does, you have the right to establish that this is how they entered. Again, who poked the hole doesn't matter....the dumb move was infusing it!

With people with autonomic neuropathy, they sometimes do not know they are sick with an infection....Just let your doc know. I would feel so much better...and call the Home Care Agency. This nurse needs to be corrected and realize that this is not appropriate practice.

Just give them the facts...Mel, write down the facts---do not say more than the facts....do not make assumptions---just the facts...

She hung the bag
A leak was found
She wanted tape to tape the leak
She transfered contents...blah blah blah.
Facts only....no assumptions.

Let them know about the infusion time being cut short....it is OK in some circumstances when you are being monitored....I was monitored with BP, P and Temp every 15 minutes, for every single bag I ever had infused....and this was at the infusion center....which was the only place they would allow me to have it infused...as it is a blood product. If orders say over 4 hours, and it is in the home setting, I would do it in 4 hours. It makes me wonder if allan got his whole dose...how much was lost in the leak etc.

Do not panic...do not accuse....again, write down what you are going to say, and just read your script.