JCAHO issues Sentinel Event Alert on chemo drug
Accreditation Connection, July 18, 2005
The JCAHO issued a Sentinel Event Alert Thursday, July 14 regarding mix-ups in delivering the chemotherapy drug vincristine to cancer patients, reports The Washington Post.
Vincristine is supposed to be injected into a vein but is sometimes accidentally added to spinal catheters used for different drugs in leukemia and lymphoma patients. When this happens patients can die or become permanently paralyzed.
Research has found about 49 cases of vincristine mix-ups worldwide since 1968. About 90% of patients died. The JCAHO has only received one report of a U.S. case involving the drug, which resulted in paralysis.
To read the full story in The Washington Post, click here.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/14/AR2005071401688.html
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