HMM members who are not connected to the Internet may sometimes
wonder what all the fuss is about. Those who do subscribe to the
Internet sometimes wonder the same thing. Nevertheless, for those
who have the time to trawl, some good information can be found
amongst the dross.
And so it was that your Newsletter editor had her attention
drawn in January to an exchange of messages about hazardous objects
in medical collections on MUSEUM-L, a museum discussion list.
The discussion went on for several days. For your edification
we have reproduced as much of it as we can and will leave it up
to you to winnow out the grain from the chaff. There is definitely
some useful information amongst it all.
To: MUSEUM-L
Subject: Medical Instruments/Handling Health and Safety Concerns/HELP
Date: Wednesday, 22 January 1997 10:20AM
Dear Fellow List subscribers,
Anyone have a nicer sounding politically correct salutation that
is more user friendly than Fellow Subscribers?
Our artifact handlers are concerned about the proper handling
of surgical kits, bone saws which still have traces of dried blood
on them on occaision.
Syringes are often found in old Doctor's satchels when we accession
them.
My training stated "Handle with due caution ,wear gloves,
mist mask etc".
Does anyone know of an article in medical journals or the Conservation
Abstracts addressing such concerns.
I would like to sterilize such artifacts yet preserve their historical
integrity.
Any leads would be appreciated and please feel free to share them
with the list so we all may work safer!
Thankyou for sharing .
Sincerely,
Len Hambleton
Objects Conservator
N.C. Museum of History
Raleigh N.C.
Date: Thursday, 23 January 1997 1:58PM
How about: Dear Colleagues?
Bone saws with blood still on them? Ick. We once had one of the
original heart pumps with what must have been blood still in the
bottom sides of the plastic tubing. Again, ick.
Seems like good ol' rubbing alcohol or other standard disinfectant
would be ok. ???
Mark Nielsen
Exhibit Designer/Preparator
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Date: Friday, 24 January 1997 12:44PM
I was not aware that training in exhibit design now includes training
in the conservation of metals. Just what are the effects of "standard
disinfectants" on saw blades, anyway? How can we be certain
that the accretion on the saw is blood? Was it tested?
Diane Gutenkauf
Date: Saturday, 25 January 1997 12:54AM
"Ick" is not an appropritate response. If that seems
hard, tough; move on to another speciality.
Tools which demonstrate use are more important than tools which
come out of the bin in a hardware store.
The effect of "standard disinfectants" is to remove
all traces of use and that is not good; if there is a question
about whether or not an accretion is dried blood, there are tests
for that which are very positive. OJ notwithstanding.
Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Lab.
Portland, OR
Date: Saturday, 25 January 1997 12:48AM
If not "ick", how about "yuck-o"? =|8-}>
Anita Cohen-Williams
Internet Consultant
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 00:10:54 EST
Jack Thompson responded
>"Ick" is not an appropritate response ... [etc.etc]
... there are tests for that which are very
>positive. OJ notwithstanding.
Absolutely, and I clearly know all that, but the point I very
badly made is that we must ask questions, lots of questions, of
our objects and ourselves, before we "treat" any object.
How can we complain that we're not treated as professionals if
we fail to act responsibly with regard to our objects? Responsible
treatment of objects includes understanding that evidence of wear
and use provide important clues to the questions "Who used
this and Why?" Responsible treatment also includes asking
the proper questions of the proper people and it does not include
well meaning, offhand, suggestions from mars. I am pleased that
the original poster of the blood on the medical instrument question
saught advice before she treated the object. I am a bit concerned
that she (a conservation professional) wanted to remove an accretion
that she seemed to assume was blood. I asked myself several basic
questions: How did she know the stuff was blood; why did she want
it removed; was she afraid of the material; was the material causing
harm to the artifact; how can the material be documented before
it is destroyed?
How can we understand appropriate methods of interpreting objects
if we fail to understand the objects in the first place?
Diane Gutenkauf, Curator
Elmhurst Historical Museum
Elmhurst, IL USA
My opinions (strong as they are) are my own and do not reflect
those of any institution with which I am affiliated.
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 09:21:36 -0500
Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me!
Mark Nielsen
Exhibit Designer/Preparator
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Date: Saturday, 25 January 1997 12:44PM
What great timing! Only on Thursday I joined the Historical Medical
Equipment Society (it may be only a British society, but they'll
surely know of a US equivalent).
Personally, I can't think of that much that hangs around for a
long time outside the body ... anthrax comes to mind, and tetanus
(you have had your tetanus booster recently, haven't you ... me,
I get in a road traffic accident, fall over, etc. with enough
frquency). Far more worrying are the drugs.
Best wishes,
Pat Reynolds
Keeper of Social History
Buckinghamshire County Museum
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 10:32:09 -0500
Subject: Thankyou from the originator/ Medical Instruments
Dear Cybercolleagues,
I would like to thank you all for input ,some serious, some humerous,
most very helpful all professionally concerned.
Our researchers are pulling the journals mentioned and once scanned
I will share the bibliography with y'all. It is not an easy subject
to find good information on. By all sharing as you have this list
will be and is a credit to the museum community. Better still
it's free!
As a conservation intern and also married to a nurse, I learned
one does have to be carefull when opening medial bags accessioned
in collections. Tetanus shots are a must. Sharp rusty instruments
,old syringes and just old dirt and dust requires the caution
of wearing good nitrile gloves ( latex tear too easily) and at
least a mist or dust mask. Some like myself are allergy prone
to dusts and molds.
While interning I heard a story about a Mom and daughter who'd
contracted Scarlet Fever through handling old clothing. I went
through that experience as a child and was quarantined to a dismal
hospital ward it was no fun.
All life's lessons are cues which ring alarm bells ,especially
in the Conservation field.
I believe in working safely and caring for the staff around me
and that means our handlers who ar>
transfer interrupted!
Len Hambleton
Objects Conservator
N.C. Museum of History
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 10:52:31 -0500
Can everyone stand one more posting on this after Len Hambleton's
reply?
I forwarded the original enquiry to Monona Rossol, Industrial
Hygienist and President of Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety (ACTS).
Her direct response to me (which I only picked up today) was "there's
not much to do but use effective sterilants and the only simplke
and sure one is bleach. If this is bad for the artifactm there
ther are some *nuke* strategies". I recommend that anyone
asking about the *nuke* strategies, contact her directly (75054.2542@compuserv.com).
Monona also said that next month, ACTS will be launching a website.
We'll try to get the address out as soon as it is launched so
that these types of questions can also be vetted by professional
safety personnel.
Wendy Claire Jessup
President and Conservator
Wendy Jessup and Associates, Inc.
Falls Church, VA
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 10:42:37 -0600
Always wear vinyl surgical gloves when handling medical instruments
and pharmeceuticals. Associated Bag in Milwaukee sells them and
they're inexpensive enough to buy in quantity. They sell same
products to hospitals and forensics labs. Well worth the investment.
Henry B. Crawford
Curator of History
Museum of Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 16:37:15 -0600
I recall a thread a few months ago wherein it was noted that certain
pharmaceuticals decompose over time into dagerously unstable compounds.
Consult with an expert before tampering with any old medicine
bottles which still retain some of their contents.
Eugene Dillenburg
Geology Department
The Field Museum
Chicago, Illinois
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:46:42 PST
Regarding pharmaceuticals that, over time, become dangerous, I
would be most interested to know if anyone knows more on this.
I work with a medical collection and have consulted several physicians
who, in their opinion, say there is nothing to worry about as
far as off-gasing, etc.
John Handley
San Francisco
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 15:46:42 PST
And, is is not true that some pharmaceuticals become weaker with
age. I remember an MD saying that some medicines carry expirations
because they are inneffective after a certain shelf-life period.
There ought to be standards for certain basic compounds out there
somewhere. Maybe the FDA or the CDC. Also the effects of fumes
from old medicines should be explored.
Henry B. Crawford
Curator of History
Museum of Texas Tech University
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 02:46:13 -0800
This is a difficult issue to address. Doctors, unless they have
an interest in the history of medicine, are too busy remaining
current with their specialty to be able to do much more than refer
to the current PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) for the shelf
life of a drug or preparation. Then, too, shelf life may have
as much to do with repeat sales as it does with the breakdown of components.
In addition to a current PDR (you can likely talk a local hospital
or physician out of last year's copy) museums/historical societies
with collections of old medicines should have a reasonably current
_Merck Index_ and Lange's _Handbook of Poisoning_
But modern medicine does not always know about some things which
were common in earlier medical practice. For that reason, my
reference collection includes toxicology books from the early
20th c., including veterinary toxicology (animals sometimes eat
what we've made medicine from).
_A Modern Herbal_ by Mrs. M. Grieve is available as a 2 vol. Dover
reprint; back it up with a botanical dictionary and a good Latin
dictionary. Access to Pliny's _Natural History_ is a good idea,
Likewise the writings of Dioscorides, Maimonides, and Paracelsus.
These works give good background for understanding the development
of medicine in the 18th - 19th centuries, and today.
During the early - mid 19th c. there were published many dictionaries/cyclopaedias/receipt
books which contained everything one needed to know, from shoeing
a horse to making medicine.
Nineteenth century US Patent Office reports, and the early Smithsonian
Reports are mines of interesting (and sometimes useful) information.
Consular reports from US embassies around the world also tell
much about commodities being traded and sometimes how they are
adulterated.
_Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis_ also gives good information
about adulteration of chemicals and drugs. And then there are
early numbers of the _Year Book of the American Pharmaceutical
Association_, and Arny's _Principals of Pharmacy_.
This is not intended to be anything more than an indication of
directions for research. So many drugs were made up by a local
pharmacist using materials of unknown purity that each exemplar
must be tested on its own. Testing generally destroys the sample.
If testing is not possible, then it is necessary to read what
others have written about the preparation, use and efficacy of
a drug and extrapolate from there. Always a difficult prospect.
Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Lab.
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 11:34:48 +0000
I read an article published within the last eight years (in Scientific
American? American Scientist?) on a quack nostrum that contained
dangerously high levels of radium, and which killed at least one
person. Because of breakdown products, the drug actually became
more radioactive over time. The author was a medical historian
who found several bottles containing residues of the stuff in
antique stores.
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Curator
Paleontological Collection
Geological Survey of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 11:14:07 -0800
Those interested in issues related to handling historical medical
instruments and pharmaceuticals safely might wish to contact my
colleague, David Driscoll, Curator of Business and Technology
at the Wisconsin State Historical Museum by private email (he's
not on the list) with specific questions at: ddriscol@facstaff.wisc.edu.
In the past four years he has dealt with the inventory and relocation
of a large collection of medical artifacts and has coordinated
the inventory, disposal or impoundment (where necessary) and restorage
of a large collection of aging pharmaceuticals. So he has dealt
with all of these concerns extensively.
He would be well equipped to refer you to sources of information
(and perhaps contacts with the regulatory agencies that could
be interested in vintage controlled substances).
Good luck.
Doug Kendall
Curator of Domestic Life
State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Museum Division
Madison WI
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 16:53:17 -0500
Please don't assume the shelf life of pharmaceuticals in your
collections! Several years ago, a colleague at the small museum
where I worked recatalogued the museum's collection of medical
tools and equipment. Among the various labelled powders she found
in late
18th- and mid-19th-century doctors' bags were morphine, opium,
and cocaine. The drugs were confiscated by local police detectives
who had the drugs tested and found that they were up to 95% pure
and 95% potent. Drug dogs in the vicinity of the powders apparently
went wild....
The museum had the choice of applying for a license to keep the
drugs or having them removed. The vials in which the drugs were
stored were returned to the museum clean and with their labels
intact, according to the curator's request.
Katherine Krile
SITES
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 08:25:40 EST
1. There is a publication that deals with that very issue of safety
and historical medical instruments:
"Safety Issues in Medical Museums," _Caduceus_ VII:2
(Autumn 1991)
2. For those of you who are intersted in the care of their collections
of medical instruments and equipment, I would encourage you to
join:
Medical Museums Association
ATTN: Jenifer Kane, Secretary Treasurer
c/o Dittrick Museum
11000 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44105
email: jks4@po.cwru.edu
Alan Hawk
National Museum of Health and Medicine, AFIP
(Vice President, Medical Museums Association)
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Published by the Australian Science Archives Project on ASAPWeb, 8 August 1997