Devastating medical mistake - Drug Error
澳洲發生一件災難性的麻醉意外事件。一個未按規範流程的區域麻醉程序,因為藥物標籤錯誤,將消毒皮膚的殺菌劑-CHLORHEXIDINE誤入硬膜外腔,導致廣泛,嚴重的神經傷害。原文是這樣寫的:(From Sydney Morning Herald)
The Herald understand the two substances had been transferred to separate metal dishes on the sterile table, contravening the standard practice of drawing them directly from their packaging into a syringe to avoid confusion.意思是施術者違反操作程序,沒有『直接』抽取藥物,而藥物是第三者事先抽好在注射筒內,雖然是放在不同的金屬承載器皿內,但顯然沒有標示,或者標示錯誤,造成所謂的『打錯藥物』疏失。
正確的操作程序,除了要施術者,親自直接抽取藥物外,還要與第三者複誦藥物的名稱,劑量,與施打路徑。
所造成的嚴重症狀描述:
The devastating medical mistake ............ has poisoned her nervous system,
leaving the 32-year-old distressed, confused, in shocking pain and unable to walk or even sit.She has lost the strength to hold Alex and rarely asks about her baby, as she did constantly after his birth.And the future may not bring relief, as Ms Wang's physical and psychological condition has deteriorated since the accident on June 26, and new symptoms continue to emerge......Ms Wang has undergone surgery to relieve fluid pressure on her brain,
.包括:休克,意識混亂,劇烈疼痛,及無法走動或坐。症狀每況愈下,且不斷有新問題發生。腦壓高,接受過減壓手術等。類似的案例只有一個,那是發生在英國(都是大英國協的會員國),
Angelique Sutcliffe, from Britain, was paralysed for life after the chemical entered her epidural in 2001. But this was just a droplet - a fraction of the eight millilitres infused into Ms Wang.
這個案例的爆發,再度引起人們對chlorhexidine神經毒性疑慮的關注 。今年的New England Journal of Medicine才報導 傳統的providone-iodine 對於外科傷口感染 surgical skin infection 的保護作用,遠遜於chlorhexidine溶液。 但在麻醉界,耳鼻喉科,眼科,此溶液對於神經組織,或黏膜的可能傷害,還是存在某些有識之士的心中,因此目前的guideline只建議用於vascular procedure,對於一些out -of lebels 的使用, 在沒有高一級的詢證醫學證據下,是這樣寫的:任何高於0.5%的 chlorhexidine in 70% alcohol消毒液體,不建議使用。連結早先的報導,皮膚消毒的革命,在美國地區以外,泛指大英國協國家,麻醉科的消毒都改用chlorhexidine,至少,在文獻上,還找不到neruotoxicity的個案報導,但所謂的neurotoxicity,都是除外診斷,根據福爾摩斯辦案的推理邏輯,『排除掉所有的可能性,剩下的,雖然表面上看起來極不可能,但通常就是你要尋找的答案』(“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth),因此,在做 axial nerual block procedure時,要謹記消毒液可能污染注射液體的問題。只有滴入一小滴,就癱瘓至今,本例的量是八毫升。