The CEO of Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital says that patients should have no worries about their safety after some patients were notified this month that the ENT scopes they received were not cleaned to exact manufacturer’s standards.
Bob Crumb tells the Radio Results Network that 400 Ear, Nose, and Throat patients who received the scope between October of 2017 and February of this year were contacted. They were told that there was a very small risk that they may have been exposed to a disease from the scope. Nobody has reported any illnesses so far.
“I think patient safety still remains our Number One priority,” Crumb said. “This was an isolated case that, the minute we discovered it, we took action to correct it. We’re going above and beyond to make sure that absolutely nothing could have happened to any of our patients, even though it’s an extremely rare possibility.”
He says that the scopes in question were cleaned “thoroughly”, but not to the exact standard set by the manufacturer.
Crumb says that when they first realized the mistake, they contacted an infectious diseases specialist from Vanderbilt University…and she said that there has never been a reported case of someone getting infected in this type of scenario.
“But we wanted to be ultimately cautious,” Crumb said of the decision to send out letters to patients, and to offer free blood tests to anyone who was treated during that time frame.
Crumb says that the hospital’s lab is open seven days a week in case anyone who received the letter wants to be tested.
The blood tests are free of charge, and they are sent out to Marquette. It takes a few days for the results to come back.
“We would encourage patients who received the letter to come and get the free lab test,” Crumb said. “We will personally call them with the results. We just want to set everyone’s mind at ease, and make sure that everyone is safe.”
Crumb says they have evaluated all of their infection prevention procedures to make sure that they all comply with requirements.
“We’ve gone through all of our other processes to make sure that everything is in order,” Crumb said. “We’ve also made a new policy that looks at any new processes, procedures, and compares it with our infection safety programs, before any new process or procedure is begun.”
More information is posted below, and you can click above to hear our interview with Crumb.
