Hospital attempts to regain status

BURBANK , Administrators from Providence St. Joseph Medical Center have amended policies, held training sessions and added staff during the past eight months as part of the hospital’s corrective actions after a fall 2007 government survey found the hospital did not meet certain infection control standards. The survey was conducted in late November by representatives from the state’s Department of Public Health on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In the investigators’ April report on their November visit to the hospital, they noted such issues as hospital staff wearing improper attire in operating rooms, an Infection Control Practitioner who wasn’t aware that several patients with infections had been admitted to the hospital and patient care equipment that looked dusty in the hallways around the operating rooms. For the full story visit www.burbankleader.com/articles/2008/08/02/business/blr-hospital30.art.txt