Several hospitals in the Montreal area will require sterilization attendants to take on extra responsibilities, reports the Gazette. The McGill University Health Centre must slash $50 million in spending and is cutting storekeeping positions to reduce spending. Hospitals across the province of Quebec are publicly funded and under heavy pressure from government to cut spending.
By choosing to do it this way, the MUHC is flirting with danger with regards to operating room safety, union leaders told the newspaper. Sterilization attendants will have to not only clean operating room devices, they will also have to stock operating rooms with equipment and load the carts that carry it. The union contends that the extra duties could affect the attendants’ ability to concentrate on sterilization.
A sterilization problem elsewhere adds to worry
The news comes on the heels of reports that a Quebec City hospital failed to properly sterilize an endoscope for eight years. Patients who underwent procedures using the endoscope may have been exposed to pathogens and are being contacted for testing.
Hospitals need a system to track and report their cleaning practices to ensure they are being done property, said Dr. David Armstrong, head of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology’s quality committee.
There may be more than the usual hope among Quebeckers that they don’t get sick.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.