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IT WOULD HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE!
Posted on January 31st, 2010 12 comments[For undates on the grand Trashback gala, please click on "Chat1" directly above.]WHY WASN’T IT USED?
Pulse Oximeter
“It would have saved his life that night – absolutely,” my friend and RN, Daisy Lee Myers, said by phone this afternoon.
I called her to find out what a pulse oximeter is. This is one of the two medical devices Joy O’Shea Woomer testified were on Brent Weaver’s chart but that Mrs. Weaver told her, “we don’t use it anymore” and that it was in a closet.
Woomer testified it was on his chart that she checked that night and “It was the doctor’s order to use it but [Mrs. Weaver] said they don’t use it.”
A pulse oximeter clips onto a finger and measures the amount of oxygen in the blood. Meyers said it absolutely would have gone off that night and emitted very loud beeps. It would have saved his life.
Please check back later…
[Editor’s note: This site was down briefly this afternoon. It is a problem with my web host’s server and hopefully has been fixed. Please be patient.]
12 responses to “IT WOULD HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE!”
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so the kid’s loaded up with morphine and the oximeter goes off. How is that going to save his life? By the time help arrives, he’s a goner anyway.
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Concerned January 31st, 2010 at 16:37
@Kay: The Pulse Oximeter (referred to as a Pulse Ox) is used to measure oxygen saturation in a person’s blood. It is used commonly in Intensive Care Units. Many of them are equipped with an audible alarm. If the oxygen gets too low or too high it sounds off. The ones in the ICU may even be equipped with a disconnection alarm that will go off if it inadvertently removed, say from movement of the hand. If Brent had one on and was given a large dose of morphine the oxygen levels would rapidly decrease due to the slowing of his heart. The alarm would go off. This would likely send any nurse or medical professional into overdrive trying to figure out what caused the decrease in oxygen and the slowing of the pulse. Likely, once Joy discovered the low pulse rate she would check blood pressure, breathing, etc. She would see that the lack of oxygen caused him to appear cyanotic. She would have called an ambulance. An overdose of morphine is not necessary instant death if caught in time. Even if his heart stopped an AED and/or CPR may sustain him enough for a Paramedic to inject epinephrine to get the heart beating.
There are many advantages to a pulse ox, it often recommended in many home health environments. Whether it would have saved his life is controversial, but it would have started the life saving measures a lot quicker than what ultimately occurred. If Joy would have ignored the Pulse Ox, then there would be no doubt that she not only ignored common nursing practices, but she may be liable, in some form, for his death.
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Suspicious since I read the LNP story January 31st, 2010 at 19:26
Every medical show on TV always has that line in it: What’s his pulse ox? You go to an ER and they clip that little thing on your finger almost every time.
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I have your crayon January 31st, 2010 at 19:31
He Haw Big Mac isn’t nothing like I had pictured.. see the chat1 tab on here… nothing BIG about her/him… She looks like a welfare boozing poker playing witch… LMAO
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Anonymous February 1st, 2010 at 07:34
Yes, you can tell when the child is in distress by the pulse ox machine, however, does anyone know if the doctors told her she didn’t need this machine? My child’s pulmonologist told us that we did not need to use the pulse ox when we didn’t have a nurse since there was no history of apnea or issues with the oxygen levels. However, they did tell us that for our safety and that of our child - when a nurse is at our home, we should still use the pulse ox for record purposes and for my child’s safety. Again, if Joy didn’t feel comfortable with what the mom stated, she should have found the machine and used it or called the supervisor on call if she was uncomfortable with what the mom had said. And, if she was uncomfortable, she should have check the patient more than she did so she could have had a better understanding of his condition.
Also, those pulse ox machines are not gold. They are not always accurate. They always say, when in doubt check the patients color, etc. It is a machine and they do make mistakes. So, good old fashion nursing could have been done here. There are many versions of this machine and it also alarms when there is no connection or if it isn’t picking up, etc. If the machine goes off, you ALWAYS check the patient. It might not be picking up well enough, it might be coming off the finger or foot or the probe might need changed. They are not infallible and generally, like I said, you check your patient - which was not done.
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Daisy Lee Myers, RN February 1st, 2010 at 12:08
agree with you..
we really don’t know the lung status of the child, but
the pulse ox is a great additional tool to have available.
nothin likethe naked eye to see your patient.
by the way…
WHEN SOMEONE has a morphine overdose..
NARCANE is used to reverse the effect of MORPHINE.
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Anonymous February 1st, 2010 at 13:02
If the child was not prescribed a narcotic, why would narcane be available? I don’t think the pulse ox would have saved the child’s life.
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Anonymous February 1st, 2010 at 13:04
If the child was not prescribed a narcotic, why would narcane be available? I don’t think the pulse ox would have saved this kid’s life
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Daisy Lee Myers, RN February 1st, 2010 at 14:04
hello:
IT was a fyi
to know what we use to reverse morphine. you are correct; no one knew the child had morphine in his system.
pulse ox gives you a
HEADS UP:the pulse ox would had alerted the nurse or parent that the O2 level was decreasing. kay was right on..
you would re-assess the patient and call for help if needed.
(and the child had been sedated too per testimony of one of the forensic guys).FYI-
a pulse ox has a silencer and can be removed and turned off at any time.
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Daisy Lee Myers, RN February 1st, 2010 at 14:15
clarification:
the pulse ox silencer is used to silence the alarm for a few seconds until you reset the apparatus to the finger.
I’m merely mentioning an additional feature of the pulse ox.
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Anonymous February 1st, 2010 at 17:01
The mom gave an antihistamine before bed not a sedative.
The EMTs gave two medications, which may be classified as a sedative, I would have to look to see what those two medications were.
You can silence the alarm for any reason. Not just to reset the apparatus. Generally 60 seconds at a time. You can also change the alarm settings as well.
This machine does not save lives it alerts you that something is wrong. The nurse would then have to troubleshoot. Unless she was also carrying Narcane with her, the paramedics would not have known he was overdosed and may not have been able to reverse the effects in time. This machine may have given her more time but to say it would have saved his life is stretching it. It obviously does help but if you do not have issues with lungs it is not a necessary machine to use.
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persona non gratin February 1st, 2010 at 19:45
Narcan, not “narcane.”
It would be really off the chain for a nurse to be carrying Narcan.
As “Anonymous” said, pulse oximeters are only meant to alert a caregiver to a potential problem. It’s up to the health care provider to determine if a problem exists, and act accordingly.
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