State regulators discovered several infection control deficiencies at Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Medical Center after three infants died from bacterial infections in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit this fall, according to The Citizens' Voice.
The findings come from an inspection report the Pennsylvania Department of Health released Jan. 6, which is based on an investigation from this October.
The report outlines numerous infection control issues at the medical center's NICU, including failure to properly sanitize the equipment used to prepare donor breast milk. In early November, Geisinger identified this equipment as the source of the Pseudomonas bacteria responsible for its NICU infections.
Health officials cited the hospital for not having a written policy to clean the breast milk equipment Oct. 18.
"We immediately corrected the citation, drafted a new policy and implemented a new process the same day," Geisinger spokesperson Matthew Van Stone told The Citizen's Voice. "Since implementing these measures and more, there have been no new cases of infants becoming ill from pseudomonas in the neonatal intensive care unit."