Nurse adding water to humiderfier

We have patients with their own CPAP gear in our small rural hospital all the time. Nobody gets freaked out by it. Staff usually ask someone to give them a tutorial, given all the many variations on machines, humidifiers, and masks. There is no federal regulation prohibiting nurses or RT's from filling CPAP humidifier reservoirs.

archangle wrote:... Now, how do we do something about it?

We FIRMLY plant our feet, grit our teeth, smile a big smile, honey coat our tongue and INSIST they pay attention as we educate them on the proper application, use and care of a patient's PAP and humidifier and mask.

I work at a hospital supporting desktop computers. I was working on a computer for one of the RT's and while waiting for patches to load on the pc, I was talking to her about cpap. She seemed very knowledgeable about them. Asking me what machine I have, what mask, etc.. Also said she sometimes gets sample masks from the reps and may be able to get me some. .
Also what "guest" posted about JCAHO is 100% . The hospital I work at is only 2yrs old and it was a big deal while JCAHO was there inspecting. They are even allowed to ask us (desktop support) about hospital policies.