Assiniboia welcomes Weyburn Red Wings with open arms during ammonia shutdown
8m ago
Billets were found for all Red Wings players in just four hours.
Saskatoon’s City Hospital is notifying surgery patients after it discovered some of its surgery equipment wasn’t completely sterilized this week.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said three surgeries that occurred on Feb. 1 and Feb. 4 used equipment that hadn’t completed a three-step sterilization process, missing the final step of a steam cleaning.
They aren’t sure precisely which three patients were exposed, so all 13 possible people who underwent surgery at the hospital in that time span were notified.
Dr. Paul Babyn, physician executive for provincial programs with the SHA, said the equipment did go through the first two steps of sterilization — eliminating an chance of infection from bloodborne diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis.
“Nothing is required other than the routine followup care,” he said, noting the patients haven’t been instructed to avoid sexual activity.
He said it’s “not clear” what missing the final steam sterilization step may have exposed the patients to, but “the likelihood is it exposed them to nothing.”
“However, it may be a number of slower-growing organisms that have spores, like fungae or certain types of bacteria,” he said.
Babyn said the missed step was discovered by a nurse on Monday, when she came across a colour-changing tape used to indicate sterilization had not turned the proper colour.
An investigation into how the equipment wasn’t properly sterilized is underway.
Babyn said they’re not sure who may have failed to complete the three-step procedure.
“There’s many people involved in this process, both before the operating room as well as in the operating room,” he said.
“It isn’t clear where the concerns may have originated.”