Crozer-Keystone hospital employee used dirty scope on patient, state report reveals

Crozer-Chester (Pa.) Medical Center submitted a correction plan to the Pennsylvania Department of Health after discovering an employee used a dirty endoscope on a patient.

In January, "the health system became aware that an employee may not have completely followed protocols related to the high-level disinfection of an instrument used in a procedure at Crozer-Chester Medical Center," according to a statement sent to Becker's from Crozer-Keystone Health System.

The system immediately reported the incident to the state health department, and the state completed an unannounced on-site visit Jan. 12 through Jan. 17.

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In an interview as part of the inspection, an employee told the state "they did not know that an endoscope could not be reused if it had only been pre-cleaned and did not understand that it required high-level disinfection before use," the state's inspection report reads.

The report can be found here, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer   

"We fully participated in a visit by the Department of Health and submitted a comprehensive plan of correction. We are awaiting a response to this plan. We are also in discussions with DOH officials regarding our concerns about the accuracy of some of the dates and information in the published report," the Crozer-Keystone statement reads.

The health system started re-training staff as well, according to the statement.

"We are proud of Crozer-Keystone Health System's commitment to providing high-quality care, which we demonstrated by our swift and comprehensive response to this situation," the statement reads.

It is unknown if the patient in question contracted an infection as a result of the use of a dirty scope, according to the Inquirer.

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