Gene363 wrote:If you have a person that needs an eppy pen, you can get an ampule of epinephrine and a syringe to give the same life saving dose. The pen is just easy for anyone to use. Your doctor can prescribe the drug and train you on it's use, although, a nurse might be better for actual injection training.
The problem with this statement is that most doctors will
not prescribe an ampule of epinephrine, even to a parent who is a RN, period.
When you go into Anaphylactic Shock in layman's terms the blood flow is wide open. Epinephrine in it's basics restricts the blood flow and too much can result in cardiac problems - heart-attack or stroke. By giving an ampule of epinephrine to the layman there is too much of a risk of over dosing in the calculation of the correct dose in a crisis situation, compared to the controlled environment in the ER or doctor's office where there is a double-check by another RN or PH before the dose is given. Ampules are measured in kilograms, which then has to be converted to milligrams based on a person's weight, and then converted again to milliliters for the proper injection dose. As a parent facing a possible crisis situation the last thing I want to do is math to calculate conversion for the proper dose. At that time I don't care if there is an App for that. I don't have a cell-phone, and we we may be in an area without cell service.
Plus, most school policies require that
you supply a set of EpiPens. I would not trust the school "nurse" to calculate the correct dose of Epinephrine from an ampule to give to my child. And the schools do not want that responsiblitity or liability. Most school "nurses" aren't even licensed or allowed to give out aspriprin, let alone calculate a and give a shot.
I blaze up another fat one while being reminded how much Obamacare and big pharm has done for my family.