A 3-year-old's death in October, following an overdose from an injected chemical at a Shands pediatric clinic, prompted hospital officials to make permanent changes to Shands' infusion policies.
Dr. Mike Good, senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the UF College of Medicine, said nine steps, five of which were created in response to the fatal October error, have been implemented to improve the center's medication practices.
Sebastian Ferrero, who had a slow growth rate, came to the clinic on Oct. 8 to receive a dose of arginine, a chemical that would determine the deficiency of a growth hormone.
Sebastian died Oct. 10 after his nurse gave him more than 10 times the dose he needed.
One of changes is that all children's outpatient medication infusions are performed in a child-specific Shands infusion center, which is separate from the center that treats adults, Good said.
Both are staffed by nurses with specific infusion training, he said.
Also, unlike most outpatient pharmacies, Shands now only provides the prescribed amount to the nurse giving the treatment - not a whole bottle ordered from a company, Good said.
"We enter the health care profession because we want to help people," Good said. "We want to be the best of the best."
Dr. Bruce Kone, dean of UF's College of Medicine, started a medication advisory committee that meets every other week to review medication practices and approve requests to administer drugs in the clinics, Good said.
Good added that Sebastian's story is a focus of safety curriculum for UF medical students.
But improvements to the clinic's care for children won't keep Sebastian's parents from urging Shands to create a separate building to house its children's hospital.
Sebastian's dad, Horst Ferrero, said the policies should have been in place before his child's death - the catalyst for his family's push to create a Gainesville children's hospital.
He said the family has earned support from pediatricians at the UF Health Science Center and private pediatricians in Gainesville, and he would meet with Tim Goldfarb, CEO of Shands HealthCare, and Kone at the end of February.
Debbie Joseph, executive director of the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation, said the hospital would cost between $300 million and $400 million.
Dr. Aldan Rosenbloom, who advises the foundation, said the project would probably take at least five years.
