Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Island: patients endangered by IT flaws and drug shortages...

Asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island are often dangerously misdiagnosed due to a complicated and inadequate IT system, and can regularly go without basic medicine including paracetamol due to frequent shortages, according to the letter signed by 15 doctors who have practised on Christmas Island.

According to the doctors, the IT problems have led to an HIV-positive patient being lost in the system.

The letter, obtained exclusively by Guardian Australia, provides a forensic description of the detention centre’s health information system, describing it as “complex, time consuming and error prone”, which often results in pathology requests, test specimens, and results being lost, prescriptions and diagnosis dispensed in an “unsafe” manner, with doctors required to “learn on the job” as they navigate the system.

The letter states “the errors within IHMS’ medication processes are manifold, represent significant risk to patients and likely to constitute medical negligence”. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Australia sending refugees to Papua New Guinea, where they are abused
  2. Kevin Rudd's statement on sending all boat asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea...
  3. Asylum seeker riots escalate in Australia's Christmas Island ...
  4. Asylum seekers in Australia sew their lips together in detention protest...
  5. Australia's refugee crisis...
  6. Australia repeatedly flouted international law by locking up Indonesian teens

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