An Arizona nurse accidentally exposed 24 inmates at two state prisons to HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) after failing to follow proper medical protocols when dispensing injected insulin, azcentral.com reports. Health officials said Patricia Talboy, a recently hired nurse at Corizon Inc., the private health care provider for the Arizona Department of Corrections, used one needle to stick the fingers of her inmate patients to test their blood-sugar levels, cleaned it off with alcohol and then used that same needle to draw insulin from the vials to administer the medicine. This error potentially contaminated the remaining insulin and exposed her patients to blood-borne pathogens. The mistake occurred at both the Lewis Prison and Eagle Point Complexes in Buckeye, Arizona. A different nurse who was making insulin rounds learned about the error from an inmate and alerted Corizon immediately. Talboy’s license, which she received in August 2012, has been suspended due to an impending investigation.



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