2 PA Hospitals Cited on Medications

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Two central Pennsylvania hospitals have been cited for medication errors in reports recently made public by the state Health Department.
Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill and WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital in York were the subject of the critical inspection reports. Neither of the reports indicate whether the errors resulted in patient harm.
At Holy Spirit Hospital a Feb. 5 review of the records of a patient showed the wrong dose of a blood pressure medication, Labetalol, had been administered intravenously on Dec. 23.
The hospital filed a plan of correction in which it promised install an alarm system to warn staffers of a possible error. Hospital officials did not respond to a request for comment.
At the WellSpan facility during a January visit a state surveyor observed that before a medication was actually administered a patient's record showed it had already been delivered.
A day later the inspector observed a staffer administering a medication without first scanning the medication as required by hospital procedure.
Further review showed the medication was administered two hours later than ordered.
Other violations observed during an annual Medicare certification review showed food placed in storage was undated and other foods were stored without adequate protection.
A WellSpan spokesman said the hospital did file a corrective action plan that was accepted by the state.
"WellSpan takes the findings of the Pennsylvania Department of Health inspection report seriously," the spokesman said, adding that the plan of correction has been implemented "to ensure that we are in full compliance."