Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said Wednesday that the reuse of syringes to inject medication into intervenous lines was happening across the province. (CBC)

Multi-use syringes have been used on more than one intravenous tube at health facilities across Alberta until "fairly recently," said the president of the United Nurses of Alberta, Heather Smith.

Health officials are now contacting about 2,700 former patients from the hospital in High Prairie, Alta. to get blood tests for HIV, and hepatitis B and C, after a manager discovered nurses reusing syringes on IV lines at the facility in early October.

But Smith said Wednesday her members at the UNA's annual provincial meeting have told her the practice has been happening across Alberta.

"It is not that outdated a practice," she said.

However, Smith said she will not identify the facilites or share that information with health officials.

"I am not going to try to go to every site and every unit in every site and investigate the practice," Smith said. "If there is substantiation of risk, that is an appropriate response of individuals in this province who make decisions around health care. That's not me."

Smith said the practice has now stopped.

"Whether it was stopped a year ago or stopped two days ago, it has stopped," Smith said. "Let's get on with the appropriate education of staff and support of staff and having appropriate on-site monitoring to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Smith said that cuts to the number of on-site clinical educators and the absence of infection control staff have made it difficult for nurses to keep up with changing standards in medical practice.

NDP MLA Rachel Notley, who used to be a staff lawyer for the nurses' union, said while Smith's refusal to tell health officials which facilities could be affected seems alarming, she is acting responsibly.

"By talking the way she has, she's alerted the public, while at the same time maintaining her need to do the best job she can for her members. So I think she's actually walking the line, fairly reasonably," Notley said.

Alberta Health said Wednesday the department encourages all health professionals to report these types of incidents to the medical officer of health.

The Health Quality Standards Council of Alberta is now investigating the situation in High Prairie.

Alberta health officials have insisted the infection risk for the people who received medication through an IV tube from a multi-use syringe is low.