HospitalInspections.org

Based on observation and staff interview, the facility failed to ensure patients received care in a safe setting. This could affect all patients receiving services in the hospital emergency department. There was a total of 28 emergency department patients.

Findings include:

Observation was made in the emergency department (ED) on 09/14/2020 at 2:20PM. The ED had 47 bays. Observation was made of room #41 which was a trauma room. There were no patients in this room. Staff A revealed the last time this room was used was on Saturday, 09/12/2020. There was a red biohazard bin sitting just inside room #41 off to the right. On top of the biohazard bin lid was a dark stain at the edge of the lid. The stain was approximately three to four inches in diameter. Staff A was asked by the surveyor to lift the lid off of the biohazard bin. Once the lid was removed there was a foul odor that escaped the bin. Inside the bin were three syringes and some paper supplies along with a canister with a liquid substance inside and tubing. One of the syringes was capped with the needle still inserted while the other two syringes did not have needles attached. It could not be determined if the capped syringe with a needle had been used or not.

One of the ED nurses wiped off the top of the lid and the stain did come off of the lid. The wipe that was used to wipe off the top of the lid had some debris on it along with a very small amount of light brown stain. It could not be determined what the stain was. Staff A then removed the red bag from the biohazard bin and took it to a dirty utility room.

Interview with Staff F on 09/15/2020 at 1:30 PM by email revealed that the last patient in room #41 in the ED was on 9/13/2020 at 8:24 PM. The environmental services (EVS) log showed the room was cleaned sometime between 10:00 PM and 6:30 AM on 9/14/2020. There was no other patient in the room after the time of cleaning until the time the surveyor toured the room on 09/14/2020. Staff F stated it was standard practice for EVS to clean/empty the biohazard bin as part of their cleaning process.

This finding was shared in an interview with the administrative staff prior to the exit conference on 09/17/2020.