In May, surveyors issued Jefferson Health's Abington (Pa.) Hospital an immediate jeopardy warning after determining a security guard used excessive force against a psychiatric patient who had not displayed aggressive behavior, according to an inspection report obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The warning was lifted a day later, after the hospital submitted a plan of correction that included revising its excessive-force policy and retraining staff. The citation was related to an incident in April, according to the inspection report from surveyors with the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Video surveillance reviewed by inspectors reportedly showed a hospital security guard stopping a patient who had been wandering the hallways of the hospital's emergency trauma center wrapped in a blanket.
The video shows the security guard wrestle the patient to the ground, pinning them down until a stretcher arrived. Hospital staffers reviewed video surveillance of the incident with surveyors and confirmed the patient had not been acting aggressively and was not trying to leave the building, the Inquirer reported. The inspection report does not make mention of whether the security guard was disciplined or further details on the patient.
"Jefferson Health is committed to providing our community with the highest standard of care," a spokesperson for the Philadelphia-based system said in a statement to Becker's. The spokesperson confirmed surveyors' approval of the corrective plan, adding the hospital "continues to provide exceptional care to the community."
The hospital's correction plan includes policy updates that specify clinical staff, not security, are responsible for patients, and that excessive force should only be used when it's believed to be the only way to keep a patient from harming themselves or someone else.
Jefferson Abington Hospital is a 665-bed regional referral center and teaching hospital. It includes an inpatient adult psychiatric unit.
The hospital has been cited two other times this year for safety violations related to behavioral health services.