In a hospital and need advice!

[Burgersandfries]

Not AIBU but desperate for advice esp from doctors/midwives/nurses!
I’ve been admitted to the hosp with a flu, I’m pregnant and have congenital condition with make it all complicated. I’ve got high fever which at the moment is relieved by normal paracetamol pills.
Night nurse comes in, takes my temperature and decides i need an intravenus injection of paracetamol to make it quicker and last longer. Only she misplaced the needle and the whole (small) bottle of the par. drip went under my skin! After which she promtly took the needle out and with “hopefully it’ll disappear by the morning” she was gone!
Now i’m sitting with this massive pancake of fluid under my skin and have two burning questions:
A) can i still ask for normal pills of paracetamol as I’m still hot and I cant spend the night with fever of 38! ( dangerous with my condition). Common sense is telling me that all this fluid under my skin won’t make any difference but i obviously am afraid to overdose! So to ask or not to ask?
B) less burning - how bad is it if the drip goes under the skin instead of the vein?
Any words of wisdom will be highly appreciated! Thank you!!!

I'm so sorry this has happened.

You need to ask to see the Dr who will be able to answer your questions and hopefully get your temperature down and decide how the fluid will be drained.

I had a misplaced iron infusion that leaked into my arm and I now have a huge scar which will never fade.

Push them for answers.

The fluid will be absorbed but may take a day or two to go down.See if you can have an oral paracetamol,maybe a half dose of it would make you feel more comfortable
Dosage limits are over 24 hrs so the 1g you had into you arm tissue will count.
So talk to a nurse about your temp and she should get a Drs opinion on this. if

The fluid under the skin will go down in a couple of days. You can ask for paracetamol but they may not give it as the one under the skin will count towards the 24hrs (they record every dosage so you don’t need to worry about overdose).

It’s difficult not to worry, but you are in the right place and your vital signs (heart rate, oxygen level, blood pressure - not just temperature) are being monitored.

I would want to know why the nurse proceeded to give you the injection without seeing flash backs (the bit of blood that indicates you’re in a vein) this should be documented and not swept under. Please follow this up.

You’re in the right place for your obs to be monitored. Try and sleep if you can.

You need to get another nurse in there. If there are concerns about your temp the doctor may be able to give an alternative med.

The nurse cannot give IV drugs unless prescribed by a doctor - it’s not up to her to decide whether or not the paracetamol should be IV or oral.

Unless of course the chart already specified that.

And it should have been given via a cannula.

Hope you feel better very soon.

PPs - It's not the nurses fault. Cannulas can become misplaced so unless someone is there to watch every drop of every infusion every patient has (obviously not feasible) it's unfortunately a thing that sometimes happens.

The infusion will slowly absorb into the tissue and go down, reactions like AE1234 describes are very rare.

You shouldn't have another dose of pararacetamol though yet as that dose will gradually be absorbed.

This happened to me!! I had a huge balloon in my arm.

When she placed the needle it seemed all fine with squirt of blood coming I think it happens when the vein is not strong enough or something like its poked slightly out of the vein (my theory do not know if this is true). It will go down in a day or two.

In terms of paracetamol ask the nurse for another dose and to speak with doc

Please speak to a doctor in the morning and try to get rest as your dose of paracetamol will slowly enter your body and so it will count towards your dosage limit. Did a doctor prescribe paracetamol intravenously before the nurse proceeded? As a qualified but non practicing doctor I would urge you to talk to someone as soon as.

The swelling will disperse soon with no ill effects. It just means the cannula moved and the fluid went into your tissue instead of the vein.
This does happen in hospitals and can't be helped. Although it should have been noted earlier that the cannula had tissued and should have been reinserted ( surprised your imed didnt bleep ) it isn't a massive deal, medically. ( Athough I understand to you it is.)
Unless the swollem area becomes red and hot there is nothing to worry about.
Paracetamol is often prescribed as IV ( intravenous) or PO ( orally ) leaving it up to the nurse to choose. A nurse would never give a drug IV if it wasn't prescribed, as she would risk being struck off.
You will still have benefitted from the paracetamol even though it tissued.
I hope you feel better soon.

Ffs you do not need or will bet another dose and you can ask the nurse about the swellinb she will monitor it. The dr will not be called to look at a tissued cannula site.

Get*

Thank you all for your answers! Sorry if I was confusing in terminology, i’m not a medic and in a state when stringing sentences together is already a mental achivement
For those of you saying not to blame the nurse, I’m not. Things happen, so I merely described the situation and asked MN a question I had asked her first as she was removing the needle/cannula whatever it is called. I didnt get any clear answer and being still hot 2 hours later, I came here. Again, I’m not after fingerpointing, I just asked - can I have more paracetamol or not, that’s it.
I got my answers hours later when a different nurse came in. She kindly explained it all in laymans terms, gave me pills as it was safe already, checked my swollen arm and reassured me, none of which had been done throughout the night by the initial nurse.
Thank you all for your well wishes, really appreciated!

Glad it's sorted OP!

Any further concerns, ask to speak tothe Ward Manager, not the nurse looking after you, as they can nip most things in the bud.