Healthcare Inspection: Laboratory Delays and Alleged Staff Training Issues Memphis VA Medical Center Memphis, Tennessee.

摘要

The VA Office of Inspector General Office of Healthcare Inspections conducted an inspection in response to allegations made by two complainants about delays impacting patient care and a lack of training in the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service at the Memphis VA Medical Center, Memphis, TN. Specifically, the complainants alleged that: laboratory tests were not processed or reported in a timely manner, employees were not allowed to be trained on vital laboratory equipment and processes, and a patient experienced a delay in care while waiting for results from laboratory tests necessary for further treatment. We substantiated the allegation that laboratory tests were not processed in a timely manner. We found that 23 of 50 (46 percent) laboratory tests ordered urgently were not processed within the two-hour time frame required by local policy. We also found that 47 of 50 (94 percent) of these tests were not processed within one hour as expected by the facility and Veterans Integrated Service Network 9 leadership. We did not substantiate the allegation that there were delays in reporting test results with critical values to ordering providers. We substantiated the allegation that a patient experienced a lengthy delay in treatment while waiting for laboratory test results necessary for further evaluation. n site.