MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A Madison-based clinic is trying to track down hundreds of patients after a nurse apparently spent years improperly using diabetic injection devices on them, potentially exposing them to blood-borne diseases such as HIV.
Dean Clinic officials on Monday began trying to contact by phone and letter 2,345 patients who saw the nurse between 2006 and when she left her job two weeks ago. They want the patients to come in for testing for HIV as well as hepatitis B and C. State and local health officials said they're monitoring the situation, but no one had detected any diseases connected to the nurse as of late Monday afternoon.
The clinic's chief medical officer, Dr. Mark Kaufman, said the nurse is a certified diabetic educator. Her job called for her to train newly-diagnosed diabetics on how to inject insulin and test their blood sugar levels.
Clinic officials declined to identify the nurse.
Earlier this month, another clinic employee reported that the nurse was improperly using a device known as an insulin demonstration pen, which resembles a large hypodermic needle and injects insulin into the bloodstream, as well as a more widely-known finger prick device for blood tests, Kaufman said.
The nurse was supposed to demonstrate how to use the pen on pillows and oranges, not on the patients themselves, Kaufman said.
But an internal investigation showed she was using the same pen on people. She used clean needles each time, but using the pen on a person could allow a microscopic backwash of blood to flow back into the pen's reservoir, potentially contaminating it and putting the next patient at risk, Kaufman said.
The finger prick device is supposed to be used on people, but the entire device should be used only once per patient, Kaufman said. The nurse changed needles but used the same handle from patient to patient, creating a risk that blood could get onto it, dry and infect the next fresh needle and patient.
The nurse left her job on Aug. 10, the same week the other clinic employee came forward about her practices, said Dr. Craig Samitt, the clinic's chief executive officer. He declined to say whether she resigned or was terminated.
Samitt and Kaufman said the nurse was experienced, noting her certification as a diabetic educator, but it's unclear why she didn't follow the devices' guidelines or clinic protocols. Clinic officials have interviewed her, but Samitt declined to elaborate.
"This is an ongoing investigation," he said.
Kaufman said the nurse's actions probably pose little danger to the patients. The HIV virus degrades in a matter of days, and the hepatitis strains can't survive for more than a month, he noted.
It's unclear just how many of the nurse's patients underwent an insulin pen or finger prick demonstration or even if anyone who did was infected with a blood disease and could have passed it on.
"The risk is minimal, but remains a theoretical risk," Kaufman said.