Contamination In Pittsburgh Area Hospital OR

By Walter F. Roche Jr.
Pennsylvania surveyors have cited a 200-bed hospital for two instances when contamination was found in an operating room forcing delays in scheduled procedures.
The recent report on the Allegheny Valley Hospital also detailed two instances when facility employees failed to get proper informed consent for surgical procedures. According to the report the hospital did not file a plan of correction for multiple deficiencies.
The report, based on a June 20 visit to the Natrona Heights hospital, focused on a May 13 event when a hospital staffer discovered a piece of bone on a tray needed for an upcoming surgery.
"The tray was then contaminated," the report states.
Another patient record showed staffers in the operating room discovered blood in a depth gauge forcing a delay in that surgery.
In two other cases the state inspectors concluded that surgeries were performed without proper prior consent.
In one case a surgeon repaired a hernia while the consent form showed the patient had consented to surgery for the removal of "a groin mass."
"There was no documentation that the surgeon talked to the family," the report states.
In the second case the report states that there was no mention in the consent form of "a debridement of a wound" on the patient's right heel, which is what occurred.
The state inspectors also reported personally observing on June 18 four staffers in operating rooms without their hair properly covered.
Yet another deficiency cited was the lack of proper operative records in four of eight records reviewed.
The report also faulted the hospital for the failure to record fluid loss in four operative records.
An examination of operating room files showed proper and required operative records were missing in four of eight cases.
According to the report the hospital also failed to "perform air exchange testing on all required areas of the facility.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com