Inspectors Cite Missouri Hospital for Dirty Instruments, Environment

More than 2 years after the Food and Drug Administration admonished University Hospital in Columbia, Mo., for improperly reprocessing single-use devices, state health inspectors are reporting a host of housekeeping and infection control issues in the hospital's surgery department.

Dirty floors and sinks, residue on sterile instruments and trays, poor hand hygiene practices, and outdated sterile devices and supplies were among the infection control deficiencies listed in an inspection report made public in January. The observations were made during inspections conducted in early November 2010 by state health inspectors on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and in response to a complaint lodged against the hospital. While inspectors found the complaint to be "unsubstantiated," they discovered several "unrelated deficiencies."

The Columbia Daily Tribune notes that several of the CMS findings are similar to those detailed in a 2008 FDA report detailing sterile processing deficiencies at University Hospital. That report, based on 8 inspections conducted from May through July 2008, focused largely on the hospital's alleged practice of reprocessing single-use devices without FDA approval — a charge hospital officials disputed.

A slideshow on the Tribune website features several photos documenting the violations found during the 2008 FDA inspections, including soiled instruments and towels that were supposed to have been decontaminated or reprocessed.

Hospital administrators have reportedly taken corrective action in response to both the FDA and CMS findings. Most recently, more than 100 hospital employees spent a weekend conducting a deep clean of the facility and the hospital added 25 housekeepers to address the recent observations of poor sanitation, the Tribune reports.

But hospital officials tell the paper that they disagree with many of the findings in the CMS and FDA reports and that they have a record of patient safety. "Our patient care outcomes data, including low surgical site infection rates and low bloodstream infection rates, provides strong evidence of the effectiveness of our patient safety and infection control practices," wrote MU Health officials in a statement.

See the Tribune's full report for more details on the CMS and FDA findings and the hospital's response.

Irene Tsikitas

Photo: FDA via Columbia Daily Tribune