Drip ordeal of tot puts focus on support staff

(The Standard  12 Dec 2012) Legislative Council members expressed shock that support staff are allowed to administer(給予) intravenous drips(靜脈滴注) to very young patients, such as the baby girl who almost died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

 

As revealed(被揭露) by The Standard a week ago, 19-month-old Angelicca Zana Kanilga almost went into a coma after hospital staff wrongly inserted (插入) a drip(點滴注射器) into her left forearm.

Her mother, Yukie Wong Kanilga, said Angelicca was discharged from hospital earlier this week.

The hospital said the tot(小孩)"was put on a plain saline IV drip by a phlebotomist(抽血者) of the central phlebotomist team, not by a student nurse."

Phlebotomists are support staff who are trained in the Hospital Authority network to take blood samples and administer drips, according to an authority spokesman.

The authority's nursing general manager supervises phlebotomists, other support staff as well as nurses.

The Legislative Council health services panel was told earlier this year that phlebotomists are being employed "to take up(開始從事) technical (專門的) or non-clinical duties" in order to relieve(減輕) the workload(工作量) of frontline doctors and nurses, amid a series(在連串的) of medical blunders(醫療失誤).

Medical sector legislator Leung Ka-lau said phlebotomists(抽血者) should not administer(執行) an IV drip(藥物+點滴液)as it is "a clinical duty(診所的職務)."

Leung, who worked as a surgeon(外科醫生) at public hospitals before going over to the private sector, said phlebotomists should only draw blood from patients.

"To take blood samples is not difficult but to set up a drip is a little bit more complicated(複雜的)," he said.

It is still possible for a nurse to do the easy cases but the difficult cases should be carried out by a doctor.

"A 19-month-old represents a difficult case," said Leung, adding that the veins(靜脈) of adults are easier to find. Drips for those under the age of two should be administered by doctors.

Civic Party(公民黨) legislator Kwok Ka-ki, who is a surgeon, said he will write a letter to the Legislative Council to ask why phlebotomists are being asked to set up IV drips.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman said the Queen Elizabeth Hospital central phlebotomist team serves all wards and departments.

"Phlebotomists are required to obtain certified training for setting up IV cannulation for patients. Those who work in pediatrics(兒科) are required to complete the additional on-the-job training in a pediatric ward setting before working there," she added.

Mary Ann Benitez