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55 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Steward Health Care nurses slam gown donations while they're reusing PPE By Mackenzie Bean S teward Health Care's donation of 50,000 medical gowns to Mas- sachusetts drew major criticism from nurses who say they've been forced to rewear gowns at some of Steward's hospitals, ac- cording to Boston 25 News. Dallas-based Steward announced the donation May 14, saying the gowns would go to health officials and first responders across Massa- chusetts. The announcement shocked many nurses working at Stew- ard's 10 hospitals in Massachusetts who did not know the system had a stockpile of medical gowns, according to Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "They should be taking care of their own people first," Peg Colon, a registered nurse at Dorchester-based Carney Hospital, told Boston 25 News. "The bottom line is we shouldn't give away gowns ... if our nurses are asked to reuse them." Steward posted a promotional video about the donation and its stockpile of personal protective equipment on social media, which was later removed. Steward said it is reediting the video, which was taken down due to licensing issues, according to Nicholas Puleo, a spokesperson for the system. Steward said many of the PPE orders placed in March arrived from international vendors the week of May 11 and have been distributed to hospitals across the network. "Only after restocking with this new supply, were we also able to make a donation to other front-line work- ers through our partnership with the state," Mr. Puleo said. n WHO resumes hydroxychloroquine trial after evaluating safety concerns By Katie Adams T he World Health Organization is resuming its international trial analyzing the effec- tiveness of malaria drug hydroxychloro- quine in treating COVID-19, according to a June 3 news conference. The trial was temporarily suspended May 25 be- cause of safety concerns stemming from a study that stated COVID-19 patients given hydroxy- chloroquine experienced a higher risk of death, which is now being reevaluated. Hydroxychloroquine, which physicians also pre- scribe to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, can cause serious side effects, such as muscle weakness and heart arrhythmia. Multiple trials are being conducted to investigate the drug's ability to fight COVID-19, but it is not a proven treatment for the disease. The WHO's safety board will monitor the trial, which involves more than 3,500 patients in 35 countries.n 5 COVID-19-related medication errors reported to ISMP By Maia Anderson T he Institute for Safe Medication Practic- es, a nonprofit watchdog for prescrip- tion drug safety, on May 14 published a list of medication errors reported by hospitals related to treating COVID-19 patients. Five medication errors: 1. Hard-to-read remdesivir labeling. Rem- desivir vials aren't clearly labeled, and the information on the label is crowded in a small font, hospitals told the institute. e label doesn't include the total dose con- tained in the vial, so some hospitals have had issues administering the correct doses of remdesivir to patients. e recommend- ed dosage is an initial 200mg of remdesivir, followed by doses of 100mg. 2. Lack of staff training in using medicine bar codes. Bar code medication adminis- tration is a common practice in hospitals used to reduce medication errors. Drugs are labeled with electronic barcodes that providers can scan to ensure that they have the correct drug and dosage for a specific patient. However, because some hospitals have had to move nurses to different units than ones they are used to working in, some nurses haven't been trained in the use of bar codes, leading to more medication errors. 3. Inability to weigh patients, ensure cor- rect dosage. Without being able to weigh patients during telehealth visits, providers have sometimes been unable to get reliable numbers from patients. is can lead to in- correct dosages of weight-based drugs. 4. Automated cabinets dispensing wrong drug. Some drugs are kept in automat- ed dispensing cabinets in hospitals. If a provider only types in the first few let- ters of the drug they are looking for, this can sometimes lead to them selecting the wrong drug. One hospital reported such an error that occurred when a nurse acci- dentally selected and gave to a COVID-19 patient a high blood pressure drug instead of the sedative the physician ordered, be- cause both drugs started with the same few letters. 5. Missed doses linked to rationing of per- sonal protective equipment. Some hos- pitals have reported an increased number of missed doses because providers are hesitant to enter patients' rooms multiple times to administer drugs for fear of run- ning out of personal protective equipment. Communication errors between nurses and respiratory therapists have also caused missed doses of drugs in COVID-19 pa- tients, hospitals said. n