Posted on 06/19/2024 7:58:22 PM PDT by george76
A cyberattack on a major American hospital system has caused dangerous medication mix ups including patients administered narcotics by mistake, leading to an admission to intensive care for life-threatening breathing difficulties.
In another case, a female patient suffered a cardiac arrest and died after data mishaps delayed test results that would determine her life-saving treatment.
Elsewhere, a nurse working for the Kansas branch of the major medical group recalled a 'near miss,' which involved him almost administering a potentially life-threatening dose of narcotic to a baby — because of false paperwork.
Employees at Ascension, a Catholic healthcare system with more than 140 facilities across the country, said these patients are just some of those suffering from the continued fallout of a cyberattack last month.
The healthcare giant 'detected unusual activity' across its networks, which left doctors and nurses locked out of digital systems and unable to access vital details about patients' care.
Despite Ascension claiming on June 14 that access to the network was 'restored,' more than a dozen staff have revealed that astonishing mistakes are still taking place across hospital sites — from medication mix-ups to lost test results.
Employees say their hospitals are relying on shocking workarounds to bypass the computers, including using handwritten, sticky notes to keep track of dozens of critically ill patients.
Justin Neisser, a travel nurse working at the Ascension hospital ..: 'I just want to warn those patients that are coming to any of the Ascension facilities that there will be delays in care. There is potential for error and for harm.
A emergency room doctor at an Ascension hospital in Michigan, who remained anonymous for fear of retaliation, told Kaiser Health News a patient was given a dangerous narcotic intended for someone else because of confusing paperwork.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Okay, if the computer screws up, you should be competent enough to know if the drug/dosage is lethal.
“Employees say their hospitals are relying on shocking workarounds to bypass the computers, including using handwritten, sticky notes...”
My GOD! Hopefully the bosses arrested and CONVICTED for forcing their workers to do something so ‘low tech’.
” Okay, if the computer screws up, you should be competent enough to know if the drug/dosage is lethal. “
LOL. Someone who has never marked undergraduate exams where they had to calculate something using large numbers.
Orders of magnitude errors in both directions...
Why are Hospital information technology systems connected to the internet in the first place? We are often told how important patient privacy is , privacy of medical records and yet these sorts of things are available on the internet.
Am I missing something? How can hackers break into a hospital patient system Unless somehow that system is connected to the internet?
These meds are given Mg/Kg of body weight. How do you almost overdose an infant if you can do basic math? You don’t need a computer to calculate dosages. Not to mention hopefully you would recall about what volume you give patients and go “why am I giving 2 vials to this patient? Something might be wrong here.”
Whose fingerprints were all over the attack?
Anyone dare guess?
Several area hospitals around us are Ascension.
Why are Hospital information technology systems connected to the internet in the first place? We are often told how important patient privacy is , privacy of medical records and yet these sorts of things are available on the internet.
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there is a “back door” for the government to get your information when it wants. HIPAA doesn’t apply to the govt.
How do you almost overdose an infant if you can do basic math? You don’t need a computer to calculate dosages.
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Find the old guys with the slide rules, bring ‘em back in.
Don’t get sick or injured!
I know, right?
My medical plan is Ascension. Every month, without fail, they screw up the premium billing. Autopay hasn’t worked properly since …forever.
This business with people not being able to function without a computer to tell them what to do is complete nonsense. There was a time when there were no computers, and people had to function using common sense, and their knowledge of drugs to treat patients. If you didn't know, you found out, and not from a computer.
My oldest son was seeing a Rheumatologist. Their computer system was held ransom, and they told him they couldn't make an appointment for him because they had no access to their computers. Good Lord, I guess they never heard of appointment books.
Megagrams of drug per kilogram of body weight? It wasn't an overdose so much as a splattering when the first forklift of morphine was dropped on the patient.
And I am just as much of a smartass when people in tech talk about millibits of memory or millihertz radio frequencies.
Here is he problem, A nurse might have 20-25 patients to pass meds to. In a hospital patients are in and out rooms usually less than 3-5 days. The next time you come in, 5 to 10 new patients might be under your care. The computer system is how all patient data, test results, diagnosis and treatment plans are shared. How much insulin is too much? If you don’t really need any, a relatively small amount could trigger insulin shock. If your kidneys are in trouble, the last thing you need are a couple of Tylenol. And don’t even get started on interactions between drugs. False patient records are murder waiting to happen. catch the crooks, and then bury them under the jail.
In have seen the personal ravages of computer systems that went down...in patient care related issues...some professionals freeze cause there is no preplanned competent work around..sadly, because computers have been given sanction to take over, many, many practitioners have simply forgotten how to calculate doses or remember complex protocols, or are taught that the computer will figure it out and they simply lose proficiency...with dei, crt, and acceptance of poor verbal communication...I expect to see more of this in all fields where the computer rules over intelligent human thought...
Life threatening dose of narcotic to a baby?
Some nurse working lessor NICU is giving narcotics to a baby? And doesn’t know doses?
If a nurse can’t work without computers that’s the problem.
We always had communications-out exercises in the military.
We managed to not kill people long before computers. We learned doses. Memorized them. Took 5 credit pharmacology courses. Manad to not depend on someone or something doing our thinking
Oy.
The problem is that the computer would confirm the dose and medication was correct. The nurses and pharmacy did not have access to the doctors’ original hand written orders. So they might not know the medication was wrong if it was one routinely given in certain circumstances. For example someone hacks the system and removes allergen info from patient’s chart. Because of that post surgery a patient is given an antibiotic they are allergic to and they have a severe reaction.
But you are right if the dosage was way out of wack for the patient that should have been spotted. It should just be second nature for a nurse to check such things. He sure would if he could not make out a doctor’s hand writing and was concerned with misreading orders. Relying too much on the computer means less independent thought.
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