CDC: Widespread needle reuse at clinics

(RediClinic is one of the “retail” healthcare clinics turning up in malls and pharmacies. Image: RediClinic website)

CDC head Dr. Julie Gerberding tells the AP (excerpt, below) that a recent finding of unsafe practices at a Nevada healthcare clinic “could represent the tip of an iceberg.”

40,000 patients might have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis, due to needle reuse and other unsafe practices at the clinic.

The quickie clinic model, meanwhile, is catching on, for folks who want to get a look-see while waiting for a prescription, or one of the hundreds of vaccine jabs they will get in their lifetimes.

MinuteClinics, for example, are appearing at CVS pharmacy locations throughout the United States.

MinuteClinics is headed by the former CEO of Arby’s. — mb

The Associated Press: CDC Warns of Safety Problems at Clinics
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., met Monday with CDC head Dr. Julie Gerberding, and on a media conference call after their meeting both strongly condemned practices at the clinic.

Health care accreditors “would consider this a patient safety error that falls into the category of a ‘never event,’ meaning this should never happen in contemporary health care organizations,” said Gerberding.

“This is the largest number of patients that have ever been contacted for a blood exposure in a health-care setting. But unfortunately we have seen other large-scale situations where similar practices have led to patient exposures,” Gerberding said.

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