CMS has accepted a corrective action plan by Dallas' Parkland Memorial Hospital after a July inspection uncovered several infection control and other violations, primarily in the hospital's emergency department, according to a Republic report.
The Texas Department of State Health Services performed the inspection at the request of CMS after a patient death at the hospital in February, which the hospital did not report to state and federal authorities as required.
The inspection uncovered a number of violations including:
• Hospital policies and procedures were not added and enforced to ensure compliance with EMTALA requirements.
• The hospital ED did not provide an appropriate medical screening examination by a qualified professional to determine whether or not an emergency medical condition existed for all patients in the ED requesting an examination.
• All patients who were transferred from the ED to other acute-care facilities were not properly stabilized or transferred.
• The hospital failed to provide 24-hour nursing services furnished or supervised by a registered nurse.
• The hospital did not ensure all patient needs were met by providing adequate nurse staffing in the ED.
• Medical records were not always completed properly with dates, times and/or signatures by the professional responsible for providing patient services.
• The hospital failed to properly dispose of infectious waste, including used syringes, body fluids, used respiratory equipment and used suction equipment.
• The hospital failed to clean ED beds between patient use.
• Hospital ED personnel failed to remove gloves and wash his hands after drawing blood, later contaminating the surface of hospital equipment.
• Hospital environmental service technicians overfilled trash bags and failed to cover the waste during transport through the hospital's ED.
Earlier this week, the hospital submitted a corrective action plan to address the violations, which includes extensive training and education, hiring additional nurses and other policy changes. Now that CMS has accepted that plan, the Texas Department of State Health Services will perform a second inspection at the hospital.
The hospital has until Sept. 2 to reach compliance or risk losing its Medicare eligibility.
Parkland Memorial Hospital in Texas Ordered to Submit Patient Safety Correction Plan or Lose Medicare Status
The Texas Department of State Health Services performed the inspection at the request of CMS after a patient death at the hospital in February, which the hospital did not report to state and federal authorities as required.
The inspection uncovered a number of violations including:
• Hospital policies and procedures were not added and enforced to ensure compliance with EMTALA requirements.
• The hospital ED did not provide an appropriate medical screening examination by a qualified professional to determine whether or not an emergency medical condition existed for all patients in the ED requesting an examination.
• All patients who were transferred from the ED to other acute-care facilities were not properly stabilized or transferred.
• The hospital failed to provide 24-hour nursing services furnished or supervised by a registered nurse.
• The hospital did not ensure all patient needs were met by providing adequate nurse staffing in the ED.
• Medical records were not always completed properly with dates, times and/or signatures by the professional responsible for providing patient services.
• The hospital failed to properly dispose of infectious waste, including used syringes, body fluids, used respiratory equipment and used suction equipment.
• The hospital failed to clean ED beds between patient use.
• Hospital ED personnel failed to remove gloves and wash his hands after drawing blood, later contaminating the surface of hospital equipment.
• Hospital environmental service technicians overfilled trash bags and failed to cover the waste during transport through the hospital's ED.
Earlier this week, the hospital submitted a corrective action plan to address the violations, which includes extensive training and education, hiring additional nurses and other policy changes. Now that CMS has accepted that plan, the Texas Department of State Health Services will perform a second inspection at the hospital.
The hospital has until Sept. 2 to reach compliance or risk losing its Medicare eligibility.
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Texas' Parkland Memorial Hospital Submits Corrective Action Plan to Remedy Patient Safety DeficienciesParkland Memorial Hospital in Texas Ordered to Submit Patient Safety Correction Plan or Lose Medicare Status