Yes!!!...Insulin Scares Me

Before I get too far into this post…let me just say right now… “Yes, insulin scares me!” Okay now for a little background information to that statement.
After getting report, my co-nurse and I were looking over orders and preparing to assess our patients. A general practice of most nurses is to do a quick prioritization to decide who to access first. My co-worker was caring for a patient who had been in the hospital for a while. She is a low maintenance patient, one who is usually prioritized as the last patient to be seen. However for some reason my co-worker decided to go see her first (nurses’ instincts and gut reactions are a real thing). As she walked into the room, I heard her hollering at me to call the dr, Rapid Response and the Nurse Expert. I wasn’t really sure what was going on so it was a little difficult to talk to these three groups of people but the task was accomplished.
I rushed into the patient’s room to help. As I entered I noticed the patient sitting in bed, looking as if she was having a stroke. There was a blank look on her face and she was not responding to any of us. I quickly grabbed the glucometer and supplies to check her glucose level. However at that moment, the phone rang. I tossed the supplies at the nursing tech and told her to check the sugar.
After talking to the doctor, I ran back into the room. The general ruling of the room seemed to be a stroke. I asked what the glucose result was…in the hustle and bustle of the situation, the glucose had not been checked. I quickly poked the patient’s finger and got the glucose result…it was 21!!! “Um…guys I don’t think it’s a stroke” is what I told the others in the room.
From there, the care of the patient went according to protocol and within minutes she was responsive and talking to the nurse. It turns out that previous nurse had mistakenly given the patient 10 units of Novolog around 1730 when her glucose was only 77.
So yes, insulin scares me. It is a medication that can quickly lower glucose levels and if that level gets too low it can lead to seizure, coma, and death. It was a scary situation but one that was handled well and thankfully no permanent damage was done to the patient.