An audit by the state found that Kalamazoo (Mich.) Psychiatric Hospital failed to remove accused employees from patient contact after investigation of abuse or neglect allegations.
The Michigan auditor general's report covers Aug. 1, 2017, to July 31, 2019.
It found that the state reviewed 30 of 70 complaints handled by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Recipient Rights. For three of 19 complaints that involved alleged abuse or neglect, the hospital did not remove accused employees from having patient contact during investigations, according to the audit.
The audit said the hospital indicated miscommunication with the Office of Recipient Rights caused two of the instances, and in the remaining instance, the hospital did not suspend the contracted psychiatrist due to a shortage of psychiatrists at the time.
Additionally, the audit found KPH responded to 17 Office of Recipient Rights investigation findings up to 180 days late.
The state audit also found that 67.5 percent of staff who witnessed incidents did not properly document the incident by the end of their shift, and 27.5 percent of the incident reports did not have documentation of required notifications to patient guardians, the state and city. Two of 40 incident reports reviewed also did not document a patient injury, MLive.com reports.
In its response, the hospital noted that due to staff having different schedules, "it becomes impossible for the [resident care aide] to complete the documentation on their current shift," according to the news site.
The hospital in the audit also said it will work with the state to improve communication to ensure timely responses to alleged abuse or neglect, and will develop a tracking mechanism to ensure a timely response to state investigations.
Read the full report MLive.com report here. Read the full audit here.
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