EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Free discussion 1400 People Killed and Injured by Medical Kit

Not that the Daily Mail likes to worry people but:
Daily Mail Health

A worrying statistic that may push up our pay. (As if...!)

Won't be applying for a job in that hospital

“Most faulty equipment is reported by doctors, nurses, hospitals and manufacturers. But from tomorrow, patients in England will also be invited to send in complaints”. Scary stuff, indeed. Another government initiative? I hope they’re also providing the funding for the extra techs to deal with the bulk "of the iceberg"! How glad I am that I’m no longer in the fray. Good luck, guys.

But surely this is nothing we didn't already know?

And I thought that patients already reported if they think their equipment isn't working correctly!?! What did home based patients do before if they thought their kit was faulty?
"Ah be right, it's not like my life depends on it!"

Me thinks not!

Regards

Alan M

... they would have spoken to their carer(s) first, surely? Have you ever had to deal directly with people (in whatever industry) and their technical problems (or what they see as technical problems)? You sometimes spend more time on “human relations” than you do switching the equipment on, re-connecting a plug (or whatever)? And have you noticed how demanding Joe (and, more especially, Jane) Public has become? Personally, I have never been one who easily suffers fools, and don’t really have a great deal of respect for those who are not inclined to make an effort to help themselves, as it were (in my mind at present is the image of the cigarette butt found inside the nebulizer compressor – have you had that one yet)?

I wonder if adequate instruction and operator training concerning the proper use of medical devices is being given to patients who use "professional" medical equipment at home, particularly that supplied by hospitals and PCTs, probably without the level of supervision that would be provided in a healthcare setting.

As for the cheap medical devices that can be purchased over the counter, perhaps the MHRA should legislate against manaufacturers selling or individuals using equipment without the appropriate knowledge, training or supervision, in the same way that they do for prescribed medicines; certainly if there's a risk associated with the use of certain medical devices.

Why should anybody assume that individuals or "the person in the street" read instructions or can interpret the results or that they'll apply "common sense" when they're poorly or under instructions that are misleading or inadequate?

A few years ago I had a close and elderly neighbour (who was subsequently diagnosed as a diabetic) knock on my door one evening, who knew I worked in a hospital in some technical capacity.

She had on an ambulatory NIBP monitor whose hose had kinked and got trapped in the cuff - when it inflated it wouldn't release the air pressure in the cuff and had produced an error. When her arm started going numb, then blue, then mottled blue-grey, she got worried and tried to call the cardio-repiratory department at the hospital that provided the equipment. No answer.

What bothered me was that she not been given any instructions or contact details of what to do if the device didn't appear to be working or what the indications of things going wrong with it might be, nothing. She'd been told to keep the device on otherwise it wouldn't record her BP. Nothing on the device and no back-up out of normal working hours.

So she sat there until the discomfort and something that didn't look right forced her to cross the road ask me what she should do - obviously I removed the cuff massaged her arm (now a sort of mottled blue-grey colour) and suggested that if it didn't return to it's normal colour or the feeling didn't come back soon that she should just call an ambulance or the local on-call GP.

Fortunately she was Ok and I returned the faulty ambulatory monitor back to the cardio-respiratory department in the hospital where I worked. Needless to say I mentioned a lack of instructions to be told that removing the cuff in these circumstances is "common-sense". Well in my experience it ain't that common when somethings alien to you and your elderly, poorly and confused.

Can't see how this one can be got around whilst devices are prescribed without adequate training, instructions and supervison to those who use them, nor without an assessment of the capabilities of those using the equipment under these circumstances taking place.

Yes, welcome to the Brave New World of modern Britain, where there is "care in the community" (9 to 5 if you're lucky), and a regime that thinks that all ills can be put right by "technology". People in other parts of the world may not be aware, for instance, that we have cameras that shout at you if you misbehave in the street! And that we're discouraged from doing DIY repairs to our homes, cars etc. (for our own safety). And there are "plans" to tag elderly folk ("for their own good", you understand). Can't help wondering what the next gushing initiative (read ... social tinkering - I can't bring myself to call it social engineering) will be. Could be anything. It's known as the "Nanny State" (as in, Nanny knows best). Why people are queuing up in droves to come and live here is beyond me (swapping one form of tyranny for another, perhaps?). Perhaps they're just misinformed?

Unfortunately Geoff, yours and my knowledge of the reality of this Nanny State doesn't get publicised in the same way as the spin from the government!!!
With regard to patient's going home with medical equipment, we try and give them as much training as possible whilst they are in hospital. However, we do have to rely a lot on the Community nurses and how clued up they are.

Your right Geoff in everything that you say, and I have heard the one about the cigarette plugged straight into the neb!

Just to add we do occasionally have to deal with home based patients or their families who bring in Neb's, monitors, TENS Machines that kind of thing suspecting a fault (Or as they usually say on the note they stick with it "Faulty"!)!

Regards

Alan M