Temple Hospital Cited in License Review

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Temple University Hospital, which already has been the subject of recent unfavorable inspection reports, has been cited for mutiple deficiencies in an annual licensure survey.
In a 37-page report released by the state Health Department the Philadelphia facility was cited for failing to protect the privacy of patients and failing to secure those patients'confidential health records.
State surveyors witnessed from a hallway a patient having a breathing tube removed in full view of a patient across the hall. A privacy screen was not drawn, according to the report.
In the same hallways surveyor found unattended work stations displaying the confidential health records of patients. One of the records on display was for a mother and her newborn child.
The displayed information included the location of the baby.
The surveyors also found the hospital had instituted new services without following proper procedures and notifying the department 60 days in advance. Those services included the use of new fall-prevention beds and use of a remote video patient monitoring system.
In its plan of correction Temple said the new beds and the monitoring videos were taken out of service until proper approvals could be obtained.
The report also cites a complaint filed by the family of a patient, who was discharged without the prescribed medication. Though the family was told the medicine would be delivered the next day, a family member had to come to the hospital to get the medication.
Also criticized were the hospital's infant formula preparation operations. The surveyors found the hospital did not meet the requirement that a registered nurse or a professional dietitian be in charge of infant formula preparation.
The hospital's plan of correction states that a professional dietitian had been hired to oevrsee formula preparation. The hospital also reported it had switched to the use of sealed pre-made formulas for some patients.
Yet another deficiency cited was the failure to achieve a goal of 90 per cent compliance with staff handwashing requirements.
The hospital did not respond to a series of questions about the critical report.