PA Hospital Failed to Follow-up on Patient's Covid-19

This story was updated on Dec. 25 with comments from a hospital spokesman

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A 188-bed Pennsylvania hospital failed to properly follow-up when a behavioral patient was diagnosed with Covid-19 five days after his admission.
In a 10-page report just made public this week, the state Health Department concluded that staff at the Allegheny Valley Hospital failed to provide adequate surveillance and take needed preventative action when the patient was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Oct. 25.
The unnamed patient was admitted on Oct. 21 and developed a fever on Oct. 24, the eve of his Covid-19 diagnosis.
After examining hospital records, the state inspectors concluded that in the days before the diagnosis, the patient had spent some 18 hours in the behavioral unit's hallway and six hours in the dayroom. He also spent more than 15 minutes with other patients while eating lunch.
Nonetheless hospital officials at the Natrona Heights hospital had concluded that none of the thirteen patients in the unit were at risk. No tests were administered, those officials concluded, because all of patientse tested negative at the time of admission.
The surveyors said a hospital employee who was involved in the followup to the diagnosis was unable to provide any documentation showing that contact tracing was completed.
In addition hospital employees told the health agency's surveyors that the conclusion that there was no risk of significant exposure was based on interviews but they were unable to name those purportedly interviewed. Finally a hospital employee (Employee 9) "admitted that contact tracing was not thorough."
The state surveyor also reported that they personally observed Allegheny Valley employees without proper masking.
In its plan of correction hospital officials said staff were re-educated on proper contact tracing procedures and that audits would be performed to ensure adherence.
The hospital said top infection control offficial met on Nov. 2 and "developed a comprehensive plan for identifying, reporting, investigating and preventing infections of communicable diseases" including Covid-19.
Dan Laurent, a hospital spokesman, said the hospital was preparing a more complete plan of correction which is expected to be filed with the state within a few days.
He added that the hospital had self reported the incident to state health official and informed the patient of what happened.
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