Nearly 2,500 Dean Clinic Patients in Madison Potentially Exposed to HIV/Hepatitis

[PeaveyFury]

How in the world does something like this happen in today's medical environment?

 

And an even better question might be how it happens for five years without someone figuring it out....

 

http://www.channel3000.co...lth/29015421/detail.html

[Baldkin]

Sounds like a case of improper training, although, you'd think "If blood touched it, don't reuse it" would be the rule in the medical industry.

[JoeHova]

Sounds like a case of improper training, although, you'd think "If blood touched it, don't reuse it" would be the rule in the medical industry.

I'm always amazed at how many people in positions of responsibility lack even a hint of common sense. I don't get it.

[mothershipconnection]

Training is rarely the problem in safety violations like this: people will know they "oughta" do things right, but they don't. The clinic needs to devise an effective sampling system for spot-checks which are tied to some meaningful consequence (annual raise, termination, etc). Simple scorecards can bring about big safety improvements in industrial settings when management follows through properly.

[stalton]

Another thing to mention is that they are taking EXTREME precaution here. I have used the "insulin demonstration pens" in the past and I regularly use the lancets to check my blood sugar. It would literally take somebody purposely trying to get blood on the pen or lancet sticks for any transmission of any kind to be possible. In the 2-3 years of my condition I have yet to even come close to getting my own blood on anything other than what is regularly tossed which this nurse also did.

On top of that, it would also require then next person to use the pen and have that blood some how can transferred over. The hole that the lancet creates trying to get a blood sample for a blood sugar level is so small, that it only lets a few microliters of blood out.

 

Don't get me wrong, all the precautions should be taken because some people do get hit by lighting on 3 or 4 separate occasions, but that's pretty much what it would take for any thing to happen for those almost 2500 people.