# backwards epi pen??



## volleyball11 (Sep 10, 2011)

So don't judge me I was really nervous, but I stabbed the guy with the wrong side of the epi pen. like 5 times. i realized what I was doing after like 15 seconds. I did everything else in the station perfectly, will i fail??


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## LondonMedic (Sep 10, 2011)

At the very least your thumb should fall off.


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## EMT-IT753 (Sep 10, 2011)

My guess would be yes, you would fail


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## medichopeful (Sep 10, 2011)

If I was the examiner, you would have failed.

Just learn from it and move on!  Don't beat yourself up over it, just don't do it again!


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## medicdan (Sep 10, 2011)

volleyball11 said:


> So don't judge me I was really nervous, but I stabbed the guy with the wrong side of the epi pen. like 5 times. i realized what I was doing after like 15 seconds. I did everything else in the station perfectly, will i fail??



First of all, was this testing, or a real patient? Second, why were you administering 5 doses of epinephrine? Third, if this was a training/testing environment, you will probably fail. The purpose of that station was to measure how you administered a medication, and you did it incorrectly, possibly leading to harm to yourself and your patient. 

Epi-Pens are the only medication generally given to EMT-Basics that can harm the caregiver if administered incorrectly, and it seems you missed the very simple instructions of the epinephrine auto-injector. 

Perhaps while studying for your retake of the exam, you should pull this article from a local library:

Greenberg, Michael I, and Ralph J Riviello. "Local effects after inadvertent digital injection with an epinephrine auto-injector." Clinical Toxicology. 43.1 (2010): 1179-1180. Print.

or alternatively, 

Chipps, BE. "Novel epinephrine auto-injector (NEA): sharps injury prevention validation and comparable analysis with epipen and twinject." Annals of allergy, asthma, & immunology. 107.3 (2011): 286. Print.

I hope this information helps, and good luck on your retest


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## volleyball11 (Sep 10, 2011)

it was the nremt medical practical and the reason i did it five times was bc i could see that it wasn't working. and my thumb wasn't on the end.


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## jpbaker1988 (Sep 10, 2011)

If at first you don't succeed, try the other end. Practicals are where you make your mistakes so you don't make them in the real world. Accidents happen. I bet it will never happen again which sometimes a significant negative experience is what it takes to learn a valuable lesson. Don't be too hard on yourself. You live, you learn, and you use the other end.


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## truetiger (Sep 11, 2011)

Yup, you failed.


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## bigdogems (Sep 13, 2011)

You didnt get your results the same day for practical???

More than likely a fail. The only way you may have passed is if your thumb wasn't on the end, you corrected the mistake and you re-cleaned the area before doing it the right way. Texas basics dont have to take the NREMT practical so I'm not sure what the critical fails are


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## sdennislee (Sep 13, 2011)

It will depend on the integrity of the proctor. Some don't like to fail students for anything, some will not fail for minor issues they expect you to become proficient at once on the rig. 

Surprised you didn't get practical results same day. Here (Alaska) you get them not long after each station. If you fail a station you are allowed on retake that day after all others have taken that station so it can be reconfigured.

A second fail of a station means you will be waiting until the next time practicals are given. Can't remember if you have to retake all 6 stations then next time or if you are only required to retake the failed station.


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## bstone (Sep 15, 2011)

Some testing facilities do not give you the results the same day. That was my experience. You got an "unofficial" email the next day, but you had to opt-in for that. Otherwise you had to wait until the NREMT sent you the results.


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## sdennislee (Sep 15, 2011)

Sympathize with you on being nervous. If everyone would answer truthfully you would find most if not all were nervous.

But I can't ignore the use of the word "like" in your original post. Like is not the universal noun, pronoun, adverb, adjective, etc... everyone has come to believe it to be. Just hacking on you. Relax, last time I checked they were not allowed to, like, shoot you for failing an exam.

Good luck


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## sdennislee (Sep 16, 2011)

Have you heard yet whether or not you failed?


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