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Overworked NCHDs and medical errors

  • 15-09-2010 10:38pm
    #1
    SomeDose
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 252 ✭✭


    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tears-for-drugs-mixup-patient-2337870.html

    An unfortunate yet timely reminder of the dangerous conditions that Ireland's NCHDs are having to put up with. It appears that two very serious drug administration errors were made in succession and, although the coroner ruled the errors were not responsible for the patient's death, there's no doubt the medic wasn't in a fit state to provide safe care after working 7 x 13hr shifts on the spin. The fact is that there could have been any number of potentially lethal drugs in the syringe, and injecting an unknown quantity of something you personally haven't made up is anathema to safe IV administration.

    From reading these forums and other sources, it certainly appears these conditions are far from exceptional, and it's only by pure chance that many more incidents like this aren't happening.

    Take a bow, HSE.


Comments

  • #2
    resus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 123 ✭✭resus


    I was just going to post on this very topic, you beat me too it.

    Similar things going on in UK, it's a complex debate. In UK they don't break the law, and this happens:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1311501/Junior-doctors-Britons-dying-won-t-stand-EU.html

    Here the HSE is in breech of last years high court ruling on a daily basis, and apparently happy to do so. (Why is nobody in jail?). With NCHDs still working unsafe hours and killing patients as a result.

    There lies a happy medium somewhere. I actually don't know what it is. Bottom line is there are not enough doctors here in Ireland or over the water, which is a direct result of government policies.


  • #3
    locum-motion
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    I *love* the spin the Daily Mail puts on that article: 'Eeeevil Europe is killing Brits because Drs aren't allowed to work more than 48hrs a week!'

    What about 'Eeeevil NHS won't hire enough doctors to let Brits be seen within 5 hours of arriving in the hospital!'

    That'd be much closer to the truth, but it doesn't suit the Daily Mails anti-Europe, Anglo-Saxon, bulldogs 'n' Union Jack boxer shorts agenda to report it that way!
    resus wrote: »
    I was just going to post on this very topic, you beat me too it.

    Similar things going on in UK, it's a complex debate. In UK they don't break the law, and this happens:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1311501/Junior-doctors-Britons-dying-won-t-stand-EU.html

    Here the HSE is in breech of last years high court ruling on a daily basis, and apparently happy to do so. (Why is nobody in jail?). With NCHDs still working unsafe hours and killing patients as a result.

    There lies a happy medium somewhere. I actually don't know what it is. Bottom line is there are not enough doctors here in Ireland or over the water, which is a direct result of government policies.


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