SCARY STUFF! View Reports Online: Mistakes at Oregon's Hospitals
#1
http://www.kpic.com/news/consumertips/Re...10341.html

Quote:At St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, employees failed to notice that a cleaning machine was accidentally reprogrammed to leave out the disinfection cycle. Eighteen patients received colonoscopies with scopes that had been only rinsed with water and alcohol.

At Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, a nurse accidentally connected a nasogastric tube to oxygen rather than suction. The patient immediately went into cardiac arrest but the nurse did not tell responding physicians about the mistake. The patient was taken to surgery but died two days later of shock and multiple organ failure.

At Salem Hospital, the parents of a 14-month-old child recovering from anesthesia were told the child was "very sleepy." In fact, the child had stopped breathing and was turning blue. A nurse told investigators that the anesthesiologist had "bagged" the child, or assisted with breathing, for 20 minutes, and that the child had required two doses of Narcon, which is ordered for oversedation, to wake up.

At Mercy Medical Center, a nurse wrapped an emergency call light cord around the neck of a demented and combative patient while the patient was on the toilet. A CNA reported the incident to a supervisor, but according to the report, the hospital failed to take action to ensure the safety of the patient, or to contact police.

Hospitals make mistakes. When they are reported — by patients, employees or family members — state and federal officials investigate.

Now, for the first time, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has released those inspection reports for hospitals nationwide from the past two years. The release was in response to requests from the Association of Health Care Journalists, which has compiled them into a searchable database available to the public.

CMS collects the reports for all hospitals that receive payments from Medicare or Medicaid. That's all of the hospitals in Oregon except Veterans Administration hospitals.

The database shows that, since January 2011, inspectors have found at least 82 violations during complaint investigations at Oregon hospitals.

The number likely is higher because some reports may not be listed in the database, the association warned. Other inspection dates are noted in the database, but the narrative reports were not provided.

In Oregon, the database is missing two inspection reports from Salem Hospital and one from McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield.

The McKenzie-Willamette report, from October 2011, is not available because of a state processing issue, said Dana Selover, manager of the state Healthcare Regulation and Quality Improvement Services division

Salem Hospital provided the newspaper with one of its missing reports, and the Oregon Health Authority provided the other.

Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach had the most violations statewide, with 12 deficiencies found during two inspections in 2011.

Among the problems: Failing to ensure an effective system of patient records; failing to take remedial actions on medication errors; and failing to ensure that there were written, signed orders for drugs and intravenous medications administered to patients.

Curry General Hospital officials did not return a call seeking comment.

Salem Hospital followed, with nine violations found during five inspections.

Three centered on patient rights, two on anesthesia, two on registered nurse supervision of nursing care, one on nursing care plan, and one on staffing and delivery of care.

"We take every one of these seriously," said Cheryl Nester Wolfe, the hospital's chief operating officer. "It's a good opportunity to examine our system and figure out where we can make improvements."

The hospital provided its plan of correction for three of the investigations. They showed that, after the case of the parents who weren't told of their child's troubles recovering from anesthesia, the hospital developed a policy describing the communication process needed when unanticipated outcomes or adverse events occur in children undergoing anesthesia.

"I think that we acknowledge that we could have done a better job with the communication issue," Wolfe said. "We did work with our anesthesiologist and our staff."

Statewide, the inspection reports detail problems that were widely publicized, such as medical staff ignoring complaints of sex abuse made against an anesthesiologist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles.

They also describe incidents that likely never made it to public attention:

. At Providence Portland Medical Center, an employee photographed the exposed buttocks of a patient and distributed it by email, along with the caption "pic of a hairy ass." The employee was dismissed.

. At Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, a surgeon operated on the left eye, rather than the right eye, of a child.

. At Cottage Grove Community Hospital, a physician refused to perform a screening exam on an emergency room patient described as "difficult."

Facilities in Oregon: http://www.hospitalinspections.org/state/or/

ASANTE ROGUE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: http://www.hospitalinspections.org/hospi...ona-380018

ASANTE THREE RIVERS MEDICAL CENTER: http://www.hospitalinspections.org/hospi...ers-380002

PROVIDENCE MEDFORD MEDICAL CENTER: http://www.hospitalinspections.org/hospi...d-m-380075
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#2
I took one look at the IV machine they had Frank hooked up to, and I thought, "These nurses couldn't give a proper enema". But, all they forgot, was his post-op analgesia, for twelve hours. Get out of Grants Pass, the second you start feeling discomfort. Get out of The Rogue Valley. Medicine here, doesn't deserve the name. Quacks of every stripe flood in here. For protection from friendly courts. Liquor killed The Gills. But, it couldn't have done it so easily, without Assante and local quacks. I've been an RN for 47 years. I haven't seen worse.
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#3
Wow, just wow.
One of the main reasons why we don't consider moving to the coast is because of the hospital/medical situation over there. I wonder how many retirees consider that when they move there?
Hospitals are not perfect and it is always good to have an advocate with you if you are admitted to one. We cannot assume anything these days, especially that our medical personnel won't make mistakes.
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#4
Jerry Brown rained pain on the hospitals. And, they deserved every bit of it. What was nice, for me, was they had tied their own hands. They couldn't meet a standard that they themselves had put forward. The fines were horrendous. The owners were guilty (Plus, they were bagmen for Reagan). They quickly learned the value of "Consultants". And were quickly caught trying to bribe a judge. The cost of legal representation was exactly two cents, less than the fines they faced (In everycase). So, as long as Jerry was at the reins, I was the only one they could go to. It took me 10 twenty hour days to make a hospital inspection proof. I split with an inspector. For a while, welfare to work nurses kept me fat and happy. But then, Deukmajian took over the helm, and it was business as usual. Nobody cared that your mom was rolling in her own crap, while the nurse ate her pain pills. But, it's here. In The Rogue Valley, where I have seen the most appalling care. Medicine here, is a criminal operation. Why the few good practitioners don't say something, might be because, they know better.
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#5
(04-03-2013, 11:29 AM)TennisMom Wrote: Wow, just wow.
One of the main reasons why we don't consider moving to the coast is because of the hospital/medical situation over there. I wonder how many retirees consider that when they move there?
Hospitals are not perfect and it is always good to have an advocate with you if you are admitted to one. We cannot assume anything these days, especially that our medical personnel won't make mistakes.

I am very fond of Brookings, myself...the banana belt of the coast and all that.
Plus, it not all touristy.
But, yes, the hospital situation looks spotty and, besides, where do you go shopping for something other than groceries?
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#6
One reason I'm helping my friend get set up in business, is the cadillac health plan, that will get him to The Mayo Clinic. Where I hope he has better luck, than I did. Because, he is in serious danger, in this community.
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#7
(04-03-2013, 11:47 AM)Clone Wrote: I am very fond of Brookings, myself...the banana belt of the coast and all that.
Plus, it not all touristy.
But, yes, the hospital situation looks spotty and, besides, where do you go shopping for something other than groceries?

Shopping? I do all my shopping online. Show me a site with a sale and free shipping and I'll show you my list. Big Grin

We have no fewer than three sets of neighbors here in Ashland who moved back to the area from the coast. Apparently it is a wonderful place to visit but living there is another kettle of fish, between the weather and the lack of top-notch medical facilities.
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#8
When it takes that much doctoring to live, I plan on checking out anyway.
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#9
I brought all the floors to one level, and widened the passages to four feet. I put in a huge shower. And now, my hips are hurting, from lifting a little dog, with bad hips, in and out of an old motorhome. It gets hard to be understanding. When you drug them back from the grave. Physicians had a hand in this. And hide my records behind courts.
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