Worse malpractices on field
- Thread starter dalmain
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What was the outcome on it? 1mg of epi is bad...but it makes no real differnce is it's 1:1000 or 1:10,000
Well, it is an order of magnitude overdose.
It was an unsuccessful code, but based on downtime, it was probably going to be one anyhow. Don't think I ever heard what the upshot of the inquest was...this was way back when, I was a basic rolled as backup to be a human thumper.
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Please tell me this is related to the other story I read recently...
I have a feeling it's not.
Good god.
cfd3091
Forum Crew Member
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Taking a patient down stairs (10 steps) on a stretcher rather than getting the stair chair.
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We only carry 3 1:10k pre fills in our bags then 3 more in the truck. Once we get past 3 rounds we either bust open a 30mg 1:1000 vial or use 1 mg 1:1000 ampules. Rather than using a bunch of saline flushes to make 1:10k I draw up 1 mg of 1:1000 and give it into the top most med port on a running line.
Same concept.
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I was just about to say the same thing.
Ridryder911
EMS Guru
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At one time I had to meet with the Vice President of one of the largest malpractice and EMS providers; he informed me that most of the lawsuits involved most everyday things like... incidents involving stretchers was number one and ... running out of gasoline?... poor or severe delayed response... and so on. From what I had seen that was being presented, very few was involving direct patient care such as medication(s) etc.. and many of course settle out before court date if possible.
R/r 911
R/r 911
NomadicMedic
I know a guy who knows a guy.
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An EMS attorney once told me, even the most egregious errors can be forgiven if you're nice enough about it. I thought that that was worth remembering. It all comes back to the, "they don't remember your medicine, they just remember how you made them feel." Now obviously, an unrecognized esophageal intubation isn't the same as dropping someone on a stretcher… But if you're a jerk about it, you're more likely to be sued over the stretcher drop them the misplaced tube.
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One of my former partners gave 1:1000 Epi IV also. Pediatric (10yo if I remember right) anaphylaxis. Other than palpitations for a few minutes, the patient apparently had no other adverse effects.
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That is so true. Many people who sue say they wouldn't have, if everything had just been explained to them better and they got the feeling that those involved were truly sorry.
Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody.
My vote for the "worst practice" is making a mistake and not owning up to it immediately.
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1mg is an order of magnitude greater than 1mg?
If they pushed 10 miliLITERS sure. But there's zero difference between 1mg of 1:1000 vs 1mg of 1:10000 other than how much fluid it's dissolved in.
EMDispatch
IAED EMD-Q/EMT
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Undisclosed transport company dropped a pt of a gurney during a dialysis run. Dropped them off in their room and told no one... Several hours later pt was transported via 911 after the Dr. at the SNF noticed deformity, pain and shortening of one leg. The SNF had to call the transport agency with their Dr's findings before they admitted the incident.
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DrParasite
The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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That's not malpractice, unless they dropped the patient or the patient suffed some type of injury as a result of their actions.
it is, however, stupid and lazy on the part of the providers.
mycrofft
Still crazy but elsewhere
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OP, define malpractice exactly. Is it the same as an accident (unintentional event), a mistake (intentional event but wrong without will to do wrong), or a misadventure (willfully going off the reservation).
I don't class losing a lift on someone and dropping them along with giving a kid an adult medicine because you don't have a pedi dose, or doing it because you misread the label, or extravasating an IV and causing a necrotic infiltration.
I don't class losing a lift on someone and dropping them along with giving a kid an adult medicine because you don't have a pedi dose, or doing it because you misread the label, or extravasating an IV and causing a necrotic infiltration.
Rin
Forum Captain
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TheLocalMedic
Grumpy Badger
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Ah, you beat me to it! You're right, 1mg = 1mg… And there were times when due to either budget issues or 1:10,000 preloads being unavailable when we had to carry around the "party vials" with 30mg 1:1,000 and draw from that on codes.
I stopped a great potential mistake once where a fire medic (silly, silly fire medics, so many great stories…) was about to cardiovert a stable a-fib patient.
Rate was 120-140, super stable vitals and no real complaint other than mild chest discomfort.
Him - "But it's rapid a-fib!"
Me - :glare: