A state agency has cited Newark, N.J.-based University Hospital for failing to adequately protect staff members during the treatment of a patient with Lassa Fever who died there earlier this year, according to a report from NJ Advance Media.
Here are five things to know about the citation, as stated in the report.
1. The citation came in the form of a notice of "Unsafe or Unhealthful Working Conditions," which was recently issued by the N.J. Department of Labor's Office of Public Employees' Occupational Safety and Health.
2. The state agency alleges that:
- Hospital employees caring for a patient with highly suspected — and later confirmed — Lassa Fever did not get sufficient additional training on how to safely handle and treat a case of a blood-borne hemorrhagic fever. If the hospital does not fix the problem, they face a $3,750 fine for every day past Nov. 23 that the violation continues.
- The hospital's written plan for who should be covered by its blood-borne pathogens exposure control plan did not assess the risk level of employees covered by the plan.
- The hospital did not have an adequate online training program on this topic. The hospital has until Nov. 23 to rectify the problem as well, or face a daily fine of $4,250.
4. A state inspection of University Hospital in August was prompted by a complaint filed against it by the union representing 1,300 nurses and other health professionals at the hospital. The union said nurses allegedly were not told about the patient's potential risk to them.
5. The spokeswoman for University Hospital said in the report that violations were already being addressed. "University Hospital takes seriously its commitment to the education of our staff," she said in a statement, according to the report. "The training opportunities identified during our review have already been addressed, and additional improvements to our training programs will be implemented in the near future."