Posted on 11/15/2023 9:46:49 PM PST by massmike
Salem Hospital in Massachusetts says hundreds of patients were potentially exposed to infection of HIV and hepatitis due to the administration of intravenous medication in a manner that was not consistent with its best practice.
A spokesperson for Mass General Brigham, which owns Salem Hospital, said nearly 450 patients were impacted over a period of roughly two years.
In a statement released Wednesday, the hospital said it was made aware of the isolated practice involving endoscopy patients earlier this year. Examples of endoscopic procedures include colonoscopies and gastrointestinal ultrasounds.
The hospital said the practice was immediately corrected once it was notified and that the hospital's quality and infection control teams were notified.
According to Salem Hospital, the infection risk to patients from this event is extremely small after a comprehensive review that included feedback from officials at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The hospital said there is no evidence to date of any infections resulting from the incident, but that it is currently testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Come on, people.
I’ve been hearing the direct careworker’s term
“Universal Precautions” since the late 1980’s, when AIDS became a big concern. Have some employers gone lax on employee training and repeated re-training?
It sounds like they did something like reuse needles.
One of the 13 million, 987 thousand reasons I’d never have a colonoscopy.
I couldn’t really bring up the story but this cross infection by a colonoscopy tube happened I believe here in Washington State several yrs ago....they inadequately cleaned the tubes, reused them.....yuck.
I was getting my blood drawn by an older nurse awhile ago and made some comment about not hurting me (I don’t have a problem with them). She told me how back in the old days they WOULD reuse the needles. Clean them of course (how well I don’t know), but over time they would get dull. “Yeah - we could tell when they were getting too dull when more and more people would yelp. Then we put them in the bin, and they would get re-sharpened so we could use them again.”
Thinking about it now I wondered if she was pulling my leg. A quick search on the interwebs said nope - that is what they used to do!
Nowadays they open up a pack of six things just so they can give you a bandage and throw the rest away. I always grab the rest of the kit (tweezers, scissors, tape, another bandage, gauze, etc.)
Not only are we giving you these diseases, but how we infect you is important too. Now bend over.
My first call out of that place would be to a famous personal injury lawyer.
Those triple tests are EXPENSIVE. My nephrologist ordered them for me and neither Medica nor my supplemental insurance paid for it. Over $600. You can be the hospital will try to submit claims for the tests.
As a boy in the 50s I remember getting shots with real glass and needle syringes that had been sterilized in something called an autoclave?
Colonoscopy tech... “What? I’m supposed to clean that dirty rubber thing... Every time?”
Yup... That would be the ‘best practice’.
It’s hard to clean thing. After doing a Mad Cow you have to throw that scope away.
Having worked in healthcare during my career, the hospitals are good at documenting training on patient safety but does that training soak through to the employees and is there continuous mechanisms in place to insure compliance ? Also consider the time frame sounds like it was during the pandemic or its immediate aftermath. Hospitals across the land faced supply chain supply and staffing issues , so there would be temptations to cut corners. Also as an aside, colonoscopes are reused.
how much did the hospital receive to KNOWINGLY
give this to the patients?
just like the COVID deaths payoff??
Bigger invasive devices than needles….
Eewww
I had to take a relative in for one two days ago. They moved it to later in the day, so two trips. The waiting area was right by the trash area so cleaning carts were constantly coming and going right under everyone’s noses. Then they decided to vacuum for about 60 seconds, long enough to stir up covid and whatever into the air. The carpet was visibly dirty so it hadn’t been shampooed in a long time if ever. Despite coming home and immediately washing myself and my clothes, I knew I was getting sick. Am still blowing my stopped up nose and smelling hospital. Awful hospital smelly snot and the poops, tmi.
They’ve narrowed it down to which patients so they know exactly which employee and which sloppy procedure caused it. Horrible that it took them 2 years to notice. Bet the employee is still on the job.
If it was an auto clave, you are safe that is steam under pressure and sterilizes.
Now, when I was a student nurse many years ago, we used the needles, and then they were placed into an alcohol bath container. And yes, they were later checked to see if they had a “burr” on the end of the needle which would be filed off and then the needle was cleaned and soaked in alcohol and reused.
Wonderful disposable sterile needles now.
Another Diversity hire?
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