IV bags filled with saline solution are one of the most common items in hospitals. But new research suggests replacing the saline with a different intravenous solution may significantly reduce risks of death and kidney damage among patients.
According to the study, which was discussed at a critical care conference in San Antonio and published by the New England Journal of Medicine, switching from saline could save between 50,000 and 70,000 lives in the United States every year. Ditching the common solution could also reduce cases of kidney failure by 100,000.
"We found that these balanced solutions tended to make people live longer and have less kidney damage," Dr. Wesley Self, a physician and researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who was involved in the research, told News Channel 5.
Vanderbilt has already made the decision to drop saline solution, replacing it with a balanced solution instead. The university decided to make the shift based on the new research, which found that saline has a higher concentration of sodium and chloride than blood does. On the other hand, the balanced solution is much closer to normal blood levels of sodium and chloride.
We've been using IV bags for how many years...100 years maybe and we're just figuring this out? It seems like common sense to pump normal levels of sodium and chloride into your body when you're hospitalized. Saving 50,000 to 70,000 lives is a big deal considering medical errors are the third biggest cause of death in the United States and by the looks of this study, medical error are probably a bigger cause of death than most researchers are willing to admit.
Anyways I found this kind of interesting so I though I would share it with everyone. Have a good night.
I hope this information is shared with and implemented by hospitals around the world ASAP. As it is, a hospital is definitely not a place you want to be if you value your health unless it's absolutely necessary to go there.
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The whole point of saline solution is that it’s supposed to match the sodium chloride levels in blood. How have they messed it up for this long? I used to donate plasma twice weekly for over a year and got a bag of that stuff every time...
Anyways, short of a broken bone or major wound, I’m staying clear of hospitals and clinics.
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Wow! They use "Normal Saline" for patients in Dialysis. We were taught it is most compatible with blood. (Most times on the floor we use D5.45NS (aka: D 5 and a half NS).. So anyway- I HAD to go look this up and found this study from 2016: "Despite its name, saline is neither “normal” nor “physiological”. Compared to human serum, saline has a nearly 10% higher Na concentration and 50% higher Cl concentration." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4794509/
I am gonna see if there are any continuing education credits on this subjuct and do one.
Thank you for bringing this article to our attention. Have a great week ahead!
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Thanks for resteeming this
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Thanks for stopping by @airshipidea! Good to see you!
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Thi is some really important stuff... By the way I recently made a post about my adventures in Swedens most beutiful Village! Please go check it out!
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