Medical students fail to change needles at free testing event

[Liberal_in_LA]

Medical students fail to change needles at New Mexico event

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A group of New Mexico medical school students failed to properly change needles on devices used for blood glucose testing, and now officials say dozens of people might be at risk for contracting serious diseases.

University of New Mexico School of Medicine officials made the announcement Thursday, hoping they can locate the individuals who participated in the free testing April 24 at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

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University spokesman Sam Giammo says the students improperly used the device to prick multiple patients. The device is designed to be used for a single prick on each patient.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-14-medical-mistake_N.htm

[Quantess]

1. How did such careless people ever get accepted into medical school?

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Doesn't take medical school to know you can't use a needle twice. just common sense

[damntexdem]

5. Being pricked by pricks?

Just a thought.

[cbayer]

3. Just to be clear, these were physician assistant students (not medical students).

They had not been properly trained in the use of the device and did not understand that the lancets in the device had to be changed for each use.

Not excusing them, just wanted to clarify. Medical errors are an enormous problem in the current system. This is just another example.

:hi:

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Thanks for the clarification

[customerserviceguy]

6. Still, what planet did you need to live on for the last 30 years

to be completely unaware of cross-contamination with sharp pointy things that get people's blood on them? It doesn't matter what low level of healthcare training program you're in, I remember going to the dental assistant school at my college, and the students would practice the use of safe techniques for handling such things.

[cbayer]

11. I agree. This is what I think happened.

They used a lancet that is enclosed in a case. You put the plastic part on someone's finger and punch it. The needle comes out quickly, the goes back into the plastic case. I am betting that they thought there were multiple lancets in the case.

I would hold the instructors, who apparently were therel, responsible.

Second big problem is that they neglected to obtain identifying data for the people they tested, so they can't find them.

Fortunately, the risks are are very, very small, but they do exist and this should wake some people at the UNM PA school up.

[customerserviceguy]

17. Wake up, my ass

somebody needs to get fired over this. And maybe those students need some testing to find out which ones simply don't have enough critical thinking skills to ask an occasional intelligent question. Do we really need people this inherently clueless working in the healthcare field?

[cbayer]

22. I agree with you. There was an overall lack of critical thinking skills and adequate supervision.

Somebody will likely be fired, and this school really needs to take a hard look at the policies of the PA program regarding these kinds of events.

[JI7]

12. one doesn't need to go to medical school to know that

[TexasObserver]

15. The article identifies them as medical students. From University of New Mexico.

"ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A group of New Mexico medical school students failed to properly change needles on devices used for blood glucose testing, and now officials say dozens of people might be at risk for contracting serious diseases.

University of New Mexico School of Medicine officials made the announcement Thursday, hoping they can locate the individuals who participated in the free testing April 24 at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque."
-----------------------------------------------

They are clearly identified as "medical students." Where does it say anything supporting your statement?

This clearly occurred under the auspices of the New Mexico School of Medicines, whose doctors were in charge of this event, whatever it was. It was clearly part of the operation of the Medical School at the university.

[cbayer]

21. Here:

http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/20402
http://newmexicoindependent.com/54357/dozens-potentially-infected-due-to-medical-students-errors
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/3007778/university_of_new_mexico_school_of.html?cat=5

They were PA students, not medical students, and were being supervised by PA instructors, not physicians. I am in no way defending them, just clarifying.

[TexasObserver]

23. They're still medical students at UNM School of Medicine.

I'll cite one of the reports you provided:

"What they had determined by Thursday was that 10 students from the University of New Mexico Physician Assistant program had decided to administer free blood sugar tests and bought the testing devices themselves.

A faculty member from the PA program accompanied the students to the event, where the students administered the tests."

These are students who are studying medicine at the UNM School of Medicine. They've been identified as such. They are training to be physicians assistants at the UNM School of Medicine. They conducted this event under the direction of a faculty member from the PA program. That means they acted under the auspices of the medical school and its faculty.

They are medical students at the UNM School of Medicine. They're just not training to be doctors. Here's a link to the school's site showing that the PA program is part of their Med school.

http://hsc.unm.edu/som/fcm/pap/

[cbayer]

25. I am not disagreeing with any of your points. My only point was that the term "medical

student" is generally reserved for those in an MD program. While a "medical school" may encompass many different programs, the students of those programs are generally identified by their program name - nursing student, dental student, PA student. I found it confusing, and other are also assuming that these were students in the MD program. I just wanted to clarify that these were not "medical students" in the generally accepted use of that term.

Partly this is an issue, because I think some of these other programs do not provide the level of training or supervision generally provided in the MD program.

There is no question that the medical school is ultimately responsible, but it is the PA program, instructors and students who hold the most direct responsibility for this fiasco.

[TexasObserver]

28. We're in agreement that they're not doctoral students, but are UNM medical students.

They are part of the Medical School, however, and listed there. The PA school is under the Med School.

http://hsc.unm.edu/som/fcm/pap/

[Tess49]

29. You are correct. A PA student is not a medical student as her/his degree

will not be a medical degree, but rather an allied health degree. Many programs are taught on the campuses of medical schools.

[etherealtruth]

16. Where I come from the PA programs

are all graduate programs ... obviously requiring a BS in "something."

Jeeze .... this transcends mere stupidity

[malletgirl02]

18. PA

My sister wants to be a PA, she is taking many of the same classes the pre-med students take.

[etherealtruth]

32. exactly ...

I am sure she would not do what those students had done!

[tblue37]

30. But how can *anyone* in the US not know of the dangers of blood-borne

pathogens like Hepatitis C and HIV?

[cbayer]

31. Agreed. I think it was more likely the case that they did not understand and had

not been instructed in the proper use of the equipment.

They most likely thought there were multiple lancets in the device and did not realize they were using the same one repeatedly. Inexcusable, nonetheless.

[hunter]

7. But they did very well on the standardized tests, I'm sure.

Anyone got a No. 2 pencil?

These days we teach 'em how to pass tests. We don't teach 'em how to think.

[WinkyDink]

9. Charter schools.

[Scuba]

8. This is beyond ignorance...

...are we sure it isn't a continuation of the genocide of Native Americans?

[dana_b]

10. oh jeez...

that is first semester stuff right there. Now all of those folks will need testing and will be frightened for a while until all their results come back. Idiots!!

[janx]

14. The problem is that most of those people are tourists

who came from out of state, and in some cases, from other countries.

[berni_mccoy]

13. They aren't needles. They are lancets. And, yes, they need to be changed each time you use them.

Even on the same patient, the more a lancet is used, the more damage it will do each successive time.

[undeterred]

19. Apparently they didn't get to that chapter yet.

:hide:

[Obamanaut]

20. The instructions that came with the monitoring device I use clearly

states the lancets are one-time use items.

I know it, and I'm not a medical school student.

[McCamy Taylor]

24. Who was supervising them? They were just students. They do not have licenses yet.

[cbayer]

26. They were PA students being supervised by a PA school instructor.

[TexasObserver]

27. University of New Mexico's School of Medicine PA section.

They are physician assistant students at the PA section of UNM School of Medicine. They went there with a faculty member. The PA section is part of the UNM School of Medicine, as discussed at the Medical School's site:
http://hsc.unm.edu/som/fcm/pap/

They are not students who expect to become doctors, but they are students of the school, as the UNM School of Medicine makes clear.