|
VA Continues Endoscopic Procedure Notification for Veterans
On December 1, 2008, VA’s Tennessee Health Care System, located in Murfreesboro, TN, identified a problem related to the reprocessing of endoscopy equipment. *
Subsequently, all VA facilities were told to review their processes to ensure that they were in compliance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Completed in December and January, these reviews also identified significant reprocessing issues at the Augusta VA Medical Center and at the Miami VA Medical Center, both of which required patient notifications and testing.
Those who may have been exposed to cross contamination were patients that received endoscopic procedures at the:
VA will continue to notify, inform, and treat all potentially impacted Veterans, regardless of risk, cause, or harm. Many people incur injury as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented - Unfortunately, many health care organizations do not voluntarily disclose their problems to patients or the broader public. In contrast, it is VA’s policy to actively seek out quality problems, discuss them openly, and tackle them head on.
“VA is clearly an international leader in its ethical and transparent disclosure practices. I’m very impressed with all they’re doing to ensure quality and safety for patients. The VA's approach to disclosure sets an admirable and very high standard for openness-I hope the rest of health care will follow VA’s lead.” Stated Thomas Gallagher, MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Washington and a nationally recognized expert on disclosure of errors to patients.
VA is widely recognized by safety experts and ethicists as leading the nation in the practice of disclosing errors to patients in a thoughtful and compassionate way. As Ellen Fox, MD, VA’s Chief Ethics in Health Care Officer, explains, “I’m proud of VA’s disclosure policy. Being honest and open with patients and with the public is the only way to ensure the quality and safety of the health care we deliver. Sometimes this makes us an easy target. But it’s the right thing to do.”
You may obtain additional information about this issue at each site by clicking the individual links above.
* small low risk event at Mountain Home, TN has revealed no positive tests
|
