The Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora resumed all surgeries this week, following an extended pause while it figured out why instruments had a residue on them after sterilization.
In early May, the hospital stopped performing surgeries with reusable instruments, though procedures with disposable equipment could continue. It hired a vendor to fix its sterilization machines in early July and started performing some procedures again at the end of the month.
As of mid-June, the sterilization problem had delayed or canceled 436 surgeries and 103 dental appointments. Veterans who needed time-sensitive surgeries could get them at other hospitals. As of Monday, all surgeries had resumed.
The VA has said it initially couldn’t identify where black flecks on some trays of sterilized instruments came from, though they quickly ruled out the possibility that previous patients’ bodily fluids had stuck to them.
They later determined the flecks were made of plastic.
Sterilizing surgical instruments is a complex, multi-step process. Over the last five years, state inspectors cited 16 Colorado hospitals for improper techniques, though only two had a visible residue on instruments and none had to halt surgeries. The VA has its own inspector, so reports about its hospitals don’t show up in the state’s data.
Amir Farooqi, the interim director of the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, said in a news release that the intense scrutiny of sterilization processes over the last three months will enhance safety. Surgical teams that saw residue on instrument trays declined to use them, protecting patients, he said.
“I was so proud of the staff who stopped the line when they saw the black flecks, which meant that we didn’t have any patients harmed by this issue,” he said. “I’m also extremely proud of the hard work by staff to improve our systems and processes to ensure we don’t see this issue again.”
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