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Original poster

ANY NURSES PLEASE - QUESTION

176 replies

curtainchops · 13/01/2022 12:09

Hi,
A question to any nurses here please ?

Are you allowed to treat a family member at home ?
ie; they're ill with Covid and you put them on a nebuliser and a Sats reader.

Thanks

OP posts:
badlydrawnbear · 13/01/2022 12:46

I wouldn’t be more likely to have a sats monitor and nebuliser at home than anyone else. I am a nurse but I don’t have any medical equipment at home except possibly a thermometer. I also wouldn’t have any medication to put in the nebuliser. If my family member needed nebuliser medication, they would need to be in hospital.

SamBeckettsLastLeap · 13/01/2022 12:52

If my family member needed nebuliser medication, they would need to be in hospital.

Not necessarily, my youngest has a nebuliser at home and a Sats moniter, we've reported daily their results before (not covid) and I've read on here that there are virtual wards of covid patients being monitored at home.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/01/2022 13:00

Im a nurse and I have an sats moniter. Id probably pop it on someone if I wanted to see what was going on.

I wouldnt nebulise off my own back though. I dont have the eqpt. I also dont have any prescription or any legal protection for administering a drug at home. Popping on a sats probe and giving a neb are two very different things. One is monitoring and one is an intervention.

Whats the context here?

Interested in this thread?

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Care homes
Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/01/2022 13:02

@SamBeckettsLastLeap

If my family member needed nebuliser medication, they would need to be in hospital.

Not necessarily, my youngest has a nebuliser at home and a Sats moniter, we've reported daily their results before (not covid) and I've read on here that there are virtual wards of covid patients being monitored at home.

Yes but presumably you've been given those things by a clincian, so its ok to do it at home.

OP needs to be a bit clearer about the context. Has the patient been given a prescription/eqpt for home? Or is the nurse just expected to do things off their own back?

DingDongMerrilyOnline · 13/01/2022 13:02

If the neb was prescribed etc then yeah, most people will have a family member put the neb on for them so me being a nurse doesn’t really have anything to do with it, I’d be doing it because I’m their daughter/auntie etc. I’d also check a family members sats, BP etc if needed. I’ve also taken bloods for a family member and redressed a wound. But all of them things are doing by family members who aren’t nurses up at down the country

MayThePawsBeWithYou · 13/01/2022 13:03

Are they prescribed nebs and have a machine, could the do it themselves. If not how will you decide if they need a nebuliser and what their sats should be.

Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:05

I think it was just oxygen and sats.

Trying to work out if he should have gone into hospital sooner, as he was there for 7 days, then went into icu.

OP posts:
Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:06

and then died 4 days later.

OP posts:
Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:06

So where did they get the sats machine and nebuliser from ?

OP posts:
Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/01/2022 13:08

I dont understand? Are you expecting a family member who is a nurse to have monitored him? And gone to get a neb if he needed one?

dowhattyougotttado · 13/01/2022 13:08

My grandma had a nebuliser machine at home and prescribed medication to use in it, it was for a lung condition and used several times a day.

I doubt they would be given out for a one off one off illnesses or covid related things.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/01/2022 13:09

@curtainchops

So where did they get the sats machine and nebuliser from ?
Did they try and manage him at home with sats probe and a neb??
BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 13/01/2022 13:09

I'm a retired nurse, but was registered at the start of the pandemic. I had to 'treat' ds2 (teen) with nebulised saline and inhaled menthol crystals in hot water, eucalyptus in a diffuser and monitored his O2 with a sats monitor, BP machine and his pulse due to him being quite unwell (the worst out of the three of us) with covid. It was right at the beginning of the pandemic and the 111 doctor didn't know what to advise. Ds' sats were dipping quite low and I wasn't happy, but they didn't seem interested so I had to make do with what I had. I'd already bought a nebuliser in just in case. He was okay and recovered, but it took about 10 days.

I wouldn't have treated a friend or neighbour.

Dumblebum · 13/01/2022 13:09

Are you suggesting someone provided bad care and is responsible for the persons death?

MayThePawsBeWithYou · 13/01/2022 13:09

Can you be a bit more specific, are you questioning what someone did.

Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:10

Did they try and manage him at home with sats probe and a neb??

YES

OP posts:
MayThePawsBeWithYou · 13/01/2022 13:11

Who is it you are concerned about. Who are "they".

Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:12

They did'nt call an ambulance until he was under 90% sats

OP posts:
Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:13

A partner.

OP posts:
Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/01/2022 13:14

Did they do this off their own back? Did the person have a prescription for whatever meds were being given via the nebuliser??

Cantdoitallperfectly · 13/01/2022 13:14

I personally wouldn’t be able to give a nebuliser as I don’t have the equipment but do have a sats probe and BP monitor, only ever used it to monitor DPs hypertension.

What is the background here? Do you feel this nurse acted out with their scope of practice? You can always contact the NMC for guidance.

BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 13/01/2022 13:14

You can buy a sats monitor and a nebuliser online.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 13/01/2022 13:15

@curtainchops

They did'nt call an ambulance until he was under 90% sats
Tbh thats not the worst
Original poster
curtainchops · 13/01/2022 13:15

I don't know if he should have been taken to hospital sooner, or whether it wouldn't have even made a difference.

OP posts:
BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 13/01/2022 13:16

Was this at the start of the pandemic, half way through or recently? At the start nobody knew what they were doing so people just had to manage. I found 111 to be clueless and chaotic. The doctor gave out wrong advice as well.