NY Hospital Insulin Pen Use - Possible HIV/Hepatitis Risk

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  1. This is a discussion on NY Hospital Insulin Pen Use - Possible HIV/Hepatitis Risk in World News / Current Events ... see: A hospital in New York State has notified 1,915 patients that they may have been exposed...

    by Jan 26
    see: http://rt.com/usa/news/hiv-infection-insulin-pens-793/

    A hospital in New York State has notified 1,915 patients that they may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C – days after another hospital in NY admitted making the same mistake - through reusing insulin pens, used by diabetics.


    Not good at all.....
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    by CrufflerJJ Jan 26 6:15 pm
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    tewdles likes this.
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  3. 3 Comments so far...

  4. Jan 26 by
    geesh...
    Not_A_Hat_Person likes this.
  5. Jan 26 by
    I wonder who had the bright idea to re-use insulin pens. I suspect it was a cost savings/efficiency improvement, rather than having to draw up doses of insulin from a vial (after going on a treasure hunt to FIND the vial in the first place ).

    Efficiency does not always equal safety.
    Not_A_Hat_Person, aknottedyarn, herring_RN, and 1 other like this.
  6. Jan 27 by
    I teach clinical in nursing home that is getting the pens in. The educator did an in-service with my students and said the pens are much cheaper than a vial. Plus at the rehab part of the building, they can send a pen home with a resident at DC, but not a vial. All the vials and pens are patient specific, whereas in the hospital where I worked, the insulin vials were used by the whole unit and pens (if there were any) were patient specific.

    I imagine someone didn't realize that the pens could not be shared by the unit?
    CrufflerJJ likes this.