Needle bungle prompts call for diabetes test changes

Last Updated: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 | 5:21 PM ET

CBC News

The public health authority in Quebec's Chaudière-Appalaches region wants changes made to the province's diabetes detection program after 150 people were tested with shared needles at a grocery store in Thetford Mines.

Public health officials are tracking down people who took the test to administer HIV and hepatitis B and C tests as a precaution after they discovered the device used wasn't working as expected.

The Accu-chek glucometer is designed for personal use, not mass screening.
(CBC)

The Accu-chek glucometer was designed for personal use and not for screening large groups of people, said Diane Morin, director of the Chaudière-Appalaches public health department.

And the device in question at the grocery store wasn't working well, Morin said.
The machine has a barrel with six needles that are supposed to rotate, but never changed position between tests. So six people would be tested using a single needle before the barrel was changed, and the problem was repeated.

Morin says the instructions provided with the device were unclear and nursing students administering the tests weren't sure how to use it.

The Quebec Order of Pharmacists and Health Canada should issue clear instructions to accompany the device, and the province's Health Ministry should review the protocol for administering pin-prick blood tests, Morin said Monday.

She'd also like to see the province's diabetes association offer more support to workers who organize detection campaigns.

Diabetes Quebec said there are already strict rules in place for blood tests, and the campaign in Thetford Mines must have gone wrong because of human error.

Device wasn't defective, manufacturer insists

Roche Diagnostics, the maker of the glucometer, said it was misused, and was not faulty. But the company will investigate the device with the intention of improving it, said spokeswoman Michèle Beaubien.

"We are looking at different ways we could make sure that there's no misuse of the product, and that our products are used properly. So if it means changing the wording, or getting more training, these are all the things we're investigating," she told CBC.

No one has ever reported a similar problem with the Accu-chek glucometer in the past, Beaubien said.