Reuse of IV equipment exposes patients to possible HIV infections
These stories never fail to scare the heck out of both patients and healthcare facilities alike. It’s a frightening thought for patients to hear stories of people who thought they were receiving care and ended up sicker than when they walked in. It’s equally frightening for healthcare facilities to hear the same story, especially when the mistake was preventable.
Yesterday CBS 4 News reported that Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL suspended a nurse for allegedly re-using supplies when administering IV fluids during stress tests. The nurse later resigned and was reported to the Florida Board of Nursing.
The Medical Center issued a warning to more than 1,800 patients treated by the nurse between January 2004 to September 2009, urging them to get tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV.
The misuse of this equipment was identified after an anonymous caller to the Medical Center’s Compliance Hotline reported seeing the nurse use the same saline bag and a portion of the tubing more than once, according to CBS 4 News.
Medical Center officials said the nurse did discard the catheter, needle and extension tubing after each patient but did not discard the saline bag or 8-foot tubing. During these procedures it’s possible that blood from one patient could backup into the tubing and transfer to multiple patients if reused, explained Dr. David Droller, an infectious disease doctor at BGMC.
“This was the act of one individual who violently — and I use that term knowing what I’m saying — violated basic infection control principles,” BGMC CEO James Thaw told CBS 4 News.
The Medical Center has said they are reviewing their procedures regarding this stress test to see if adjustments should be made. Currently cardiac stress tests are done by one nurse alone in a room with the patient.
For infection control sample forms and documents, visit the Tools page on OSHA Healthcare Advisor.
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Comments
I don’t have any details other than what’s written here, but I’m saddened, and a little outraged by the comments of the CEO.
I’ve been in healthcare for 30-some years and known a lot of nursing staff…good and not-so-great.
My experience is that virtually all occurrences where healthcare staff have decided to reuse a disposable medical device rather than open a new one, is due to a desire to reduce expenses and without a clear understanding of infection control concepts with that device.
There’s an on-going bombardment of requests, expectations and reminders to cut expenses and reduce use of supplies…and budget cuts where staff are expected to figure out cheaper ways to get the job done without any real support from the system to be successful. And very little, if any, communications, discussion and training about how to safely do it.
Again, I don’t know the details in this specific case but my guess is the true cause of the error was the nurse’s desire to reduce costs and a lack of understanding of the risk. If the nurse knew the IC concepts and purposely wanted to hurt someone, as the CEO implies, she would have reused the other items as well and done it covertly.
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