This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Healthcare Facility Inspection program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the VA St. Louis Healthcare System in Missouri. This evaluation focused on five key content domains:
• Culture
• Environment of care
• Patient safety
• Primary care
• Veteran-centered safety net
The OIG issued five recommendations for improvement in two domains:
1. Environment of care
• Supply storage locations and expired supplies
• Video laryngoscope supplies
• Safe and clean patient care areas
• Preventive maintenance for biomedical equipment
2. Patient safety
• Service-level workflows and processes to monitor patient test result communications
Open Recommendations
Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
Facility leaders determine appropriate supply storage locations, and for any suppliesstored outside these defined locations, implement a process to ensure staff identifyand remove expired supplies. | |||||
02 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
Facility leaders ensure video laryngoscope supplies are readily available and notexpired. | |||||
03 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
The Director ensures staff keep patient care areas clean and safe. | |||||
04 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
The Director ensures staff complete required preventive maintenance forbiomedical equipment. | |||||
05 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
Facility leaders develop service-level workflows and processes to monitorcommunication of test results to patients. |