Back to the future: Lessons learned from the fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012
Lewis Terri
National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan
: Analg Resusc: Curr Res
Abstract
In 2012, nearly 14,000 persons were exposed to contaminated pharmaceuticals produced and distributed by New England Compounding Company (NECC) in Framingham Massachusetts.The presenter has closely followed a group of nearly 400 sickened consumers and their families who were injured as the result of this outbreak.This session will elaborate on the natural history of this outbreak, the intersection with current pain management practices and compare it to both prior outbreaks and outbreaks that have occurred since. From the perspective of reducing future outbreaks and preventing patient harm, lessons and insights learned from the two years that have elapsed will be offered for review and discussion.This will focus on (1) What we can observe and measure; (2) Limitations of interim regulatory responses such as the passage of the Drug Quality and Safety Act and oversight mechanisms; (3) improving awareness and state and local response Opportunities for Research; and (4) opportunities for improved ethical decision making. A model for reducing future outbreaks and selecting interventional supports for specific consumer groups will be proposed derived from extracted patient experience.Among the topics to be discussed will be: 1. The history of outbreaks from 2000 and the context in which this outbreak occurred. 2. The role Public health and provider communications. 3. The limitations of the system of Federal, State, health practitioner Public health communications. 4. Consumer impact and the influence of systemic conflicts of interest. 5. Ethics treatment needs for patients who survived. 6. A model for reduction of patient harm and improved outcomes.
Biography
Lewis Terri has extensive experience in the development and administration of community programs and systems of care for persons with disabilities and chronic health impairments. Her work life represents broad community rehabilitation industry experience, having served as a special education teacher; the Director of an overseas embassy based mental health program in the People’s Republic of China; and collaborator with local, state, and federal agencies to create community mental health and rehabilitation services for unserved and underserved persons with a wide variety of needs. She serves on the faculties of National Changhua University of Education in the Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Counseling and Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the Rehabilitation Institute. She collaborates with vocational programs in the USA and Southeast Asia on the design of community based rehabilitation with special emphasis on Allied Health care coordination. She holds a BS in Special Education from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH; an MS in Special Education, Multi-handicapped from Montana State University in Billings, MT; and a PhD in Rehabilitation from SIU Carbondale. She has served as the volunteer patient navigator for consumers injured by the fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012 and has contributed hundreds of hours of patient education to families, legal teams, physicians, and the staff of the Senate HELP Committee.She has served on the Patient Safety work group that contributed to the Drug Quality and Safety Act. She is working on a book about this outbreak, examining the factors that led to the outbreak, the public health response, and implications for patient safety and consumer supports.
