Dirty surgical instruments a growing problem in the OR

[Celebration]

Dirty surgical instruments a growing problem in the OR

When John Harrison checked into a Texas hospital in 2009 for rotator cuff surgery, he thought that after a six week recovery period, he’d be as good as new. But two weeks after the operation, the 63 year-old was experiencing severe discomfort and swelling in his shoulder and knew something was terribly wrong.

During an emergency visit to the hospital, doctors told him that he had been infected during surgery with a deadly bacteria called P. aeruginosa. And Harrison wasn’t the only one -- six other patients who had undergone surgery at the same hospital had contracted potentially lethal infections as well.

The hospital, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched an investigation and closed operating rooms for two weeks. Surgery was cancelled while they searched for clues and they found some, in something called an arthroscopic shaver. Somehow potentially deadly bacteria had survived the sterilization process and infected Harrison’s shoulder.

And the problem isn’t isolated. Other investigations in hospitals across the country have revealed the use of other dirty surgical instruments, such as endoscopes used for colonoscopies, have led to infection outbreaks.

[CrispyQ]

1. Do your best in life to stay out of the medical & legal complexes.

I don't believe this country is anywhere near prepared for a serious medical outbreak.

[HereSince1628]

2. Last year they shut down surgery at the Milw VA due to concerns

over the adequacy of instrument sterilization. It took several weeks before things resumed.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/111852444.html

[Lost-in-FL]

3. I wonder if it was due to equipment malfunction.

I have seen how they clean this kind of equipment, very thoroughly indeed. However, it always crosses my mind the "what if the autoclave isn't calibrated properly". Also, if bacteria are becoming immune to antibiotics, what would stop them from also becoming 'heat-resistant'?

BTW... Pseudomonas aeruginosa is some nasty s**t. Nothing says filth like P. aeruginosa.

[Celebration]

4. well the article implies

That maybe hospitals need to hire people with some expertise, for example, pay more than minimum wage to people in the basement! Also to get approval instruments have to have instructions on sterilization, but those tests take place in a lab, not in real life hospital conditions, so they might be difficult. It takes human judgment to make sure these things are properly sterilized, and that is just sometimes lacking.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. Unfortunately true. nt