By Walter F. Roche Jr.
For the second time in a matter of months, a Pocono hospital has been cited by state health surveyors this time for understaffing in the emergency room.
A report just made public by the state Health Department concludes that, the Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono "failed to provide adequate staffing in the emergency area."
Citing hospital staffing reports, the state surveyor found that the actual staffing in the emergency area did not even meet the hospital's own standards.
According to the report several patients who showed up for emergency care left without even being seen.
On one day in early April nine patients gave up and left without being seen. Those patients included one who had expressed suicidal ideations.
In early February 15 patients left the emergency room in a single day without being seen, according to the report.
In January 4.1 percent of the ER patients left without being seen. In February and March 3.7 percent and 3.5 percent of the ER patients left without being seen.
The hospital filed a plan of correction in which it said eight agency registered nurses had been added for the peak shifts. And two more had been requested.
The report marks the second time in recent months that the 249-bed East Stroudsburg facility has been cited for lapses in care.
In a previous report the state surveyors found that a 79-year-old patient in critical condition was kept waiting for five hours before being transferred to a higher level of care and placed on a monitor as ordered by a physician.
Hospital officials did not respond to questions about the latest report.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com
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