Dive Brief:
- The University of Alaska Fairbanks is investigating why about 30 students in its medical assistant program practiced their syringe injection techniques on each other with a solution not approved for humans or animals.
- The solution, called “Simulated 0.9 percent Sodim Chlorde Injection,” is made to be injected into injection pads or training devices. Its label warns that it is not to be used on humans or animals.
- The instructor in the two UAF Community and Technical College classes where the students were injected has been placed on paid investigatory leave and won’t have her contract renewed at the end of the school year.
Dive Insight:
Lesson No. 1 for all medical school students: Read the label. This apparently went on for two semesters before a student called the solution’s manufacturer, which said to stop using it immediately.
Lesson No. 2: Pay attention to the side effects. According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, students who were injected complained of burning sensations and skin irritation.
The university’s chancellor, Brian Rogers, told the newspaper that it was “the most serious issue I’ve seen” in his six years on the job. According to classroom logs, the affected students received about 10 injections each, but the logs may be incomplete. The school is checking into whether the injected students have any health problems linked to the injections, and whether students in earlier classes may have also been injected with the solution.