Several days ago, I noticed a round burn mark on Emilia's chest. It looked like the shape of the CO2 monitor probe they stick on her body. The CO2 probe works by warming up the spot it is on and if it's on for a long time, it causes a burn. You can imagine how upset I was. Trying very hard not to offend the nurse or the medical team, I just raised it as a question: "oh, what is that sore on her chest? Is that from the tape?". The nurse said she noticed it when she started her shift too and it looked like a blister. Oh, GREAT. Now she tells me... (Usually the nurse reports all the updates on the baby when you first arrive at the bedside) A Burn..? Not just on a baby's skin but on a preemie's delicate thin skin...? The next day, I mentioned it again to the nurse that was on the shift. She said the same thing. I repeated the same question to the nurse that was on shift each time I visited because I wanted to gently remind them not to put the probe on that spot. Maybe they were not going to, but as an anxious mom, I didn't know if they were sensitive enough to notice it. They have handled many many babies and mine is just one of them, but for me, this baby is my only one and a precious one. Any way, finally one nurse reported it to the doctors during the medical round. I still wasn't happy of course, but at least now all the doctors and nurses were all aware of it. The neonatologist asked the nurse what it looked like and how it might have gotten there. In the end, her suggestion was to leave it and let it heal if it was dry.
If you have a preemie with a CO2 probe, and if the nurse does not promptly remove it when the monitor beeps with a message telling her to remove the probe, don't hesitate to tell her it's time to remove it before it burns the baby's skin. The monitor is actually quite smart. It counts down 30 minutes to the time it should be taken off the body to avoid a burn so if a parent is around at the time of countdown and if the nurse is busy with something else, the parent should gently remind the nurse.
No comments:
Post a Comment