A Hospital Corpsman assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit Kingsville was recently recognized as the winner of Naval Medical Forces Atlantic’s Good Catch of the Year award for 2020.
HM1 Graham Ringer, NMRTUK’s Medical Homeport Work Center Supervisor and Infection Control Representative, earned recognition through his actions in avoiding potential methanol contamination exposure to patients and staff from a shipment of hand sanitizer.
On October 21, 2020, Ringer noted that a shipment of hand sanitizer that the clinic had recently received was unfamiliar and not from the clinic’s normal manufacturer or distributor.
Ringer researched the product and discovered that the sanitizer had been recalled by the FDA because it had been “made at the same facility that produced methanol contaminated product.”
Upon this discovery, Ringer immediately labeled the sanitizer as “Do Not Use”, stored it in a flammable material locker, and notified his chain of command and fellow clinic staff about the potential hazard.
In a message to staff, Capt. Eric Evans, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Corpus Christi Commanding Officer commended Ringer.
“Thanks to HM1 Ringer’s sensitivity to operations and concern for patient and staff safety, his discovery led to the avoidance of potential Methanol contamination exposure to our patients and clinic and installation staff,” Evans said. “Consistent with the High Reliability Principles ‘First, Do No Harm’, he considered the potential harm that the potentially contaminated hand sanitizer could have caused if inadvertently used and took mitigating action.”
A “Good Catch” represents a near miss, unsafe condition, or error(s) identified early to prevent and/or minimize harm to patients. The Good Catch award program promotes command engagement in reinforcing a culture of safety by supporting and encouraging the reporting of errors and near misses and allowing staff at all levels to freely express safety concerns.
Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi and its Naval Branch Health Clinics located in Kingsville and Fort Worth provide ambulatory care services to more than 13,000 enrolled patients comprised of military active duty, their family members, retirees and their family members in South Texas and Dallas/Fort Worth. In addition, the command's San Antonio Detachment provides primary care services to our Navy students at the Medical Education and Training Campus, Fort Sam Houston, and case management services and medical board management to our Navy and Marine Corps Wounded, Ill and Injured Warriors at San Antonio Military Medical Center.
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.03.2021 15:51 |
| Story ID: | 390498 |
| Location: | KINGSVILLE, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 91 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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