West Haven VA hospital cited for dirty operating rooms

West Haven VA hospital cited for dirty operating rooms, poor supervision, high absenteeism
New Haven Register
By Mark Zaretsky
POSTED: 02/18/14

WEST HAVEN
The VA Connecticut Healthcare System hospital here has been cited by the Veterans Administration’s Inspector General’s Office for dirty operating rooms as well as inadequate supervision and a high absentee rate.

The VA Inspector General, in a report posted on its website Tuesday and released by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, concluded that “terminal cleaning procedures in the (VA operating room) are not performed appropriately and the hospital’s Environmental Management Services, or EMS, “has insufficient staff resources assigned to the OR.”

The report resulted from at least one unannounced inspection. It comes four months after tests at the West Haven VA hospital found “low, but detectable levels” of Legionella bacteria in its water sources. That bacteria was found to have been “confined to one building” and was found “in about five faucets.”

The Inspector General’s report released Tuesday found that hospital EMS staff “do not utilize standard operating procedures ... or checklists for cleaning that are consistent with recognized industry standards.

“Patients with infectious diseases who may require special precautions are scheduled for surgical procedures throughout the day along with patients who are not infectious,” the report said.

What’s more, “OR staff are not always made aware of an infectious patient’s precaution status prior to the arrival of the patient,” it said.
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