Becker's Hospital Review

144 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Michigan hospital facing infection control issues loses CEO and COO/CNO within 1 month By Alia Paavola and Megan Knowles C arson City, Mich.-based Sparrow Carson Hospital's President and CEO Matthew ompson le his post Feb. 16, just 10 days aer CMS threatened to revoke the hospital's Medicare funding over infection control concerns. Barb McQuillan, BSN, RN, Sparrow Carson's chief nursing officer and COO, stepped down from her role at the hospital just three weeks aer Mr. ompson's departure, according to the Lansing State Journal. Here are seven things to know. 1. CMS sent the hospital a Medicare contract termination notice Feb. 6, aer an investigation by federal regulators found the hospital noncompliant with infection control standards. e notice said the deficiencies found in the investigation "are significant and limit your hospital's capacity to render adequate care and ensure the health and safety of your patients," according to the Lansing State Journal. 2. e hospital submitted a plan of correction to address the infection issues and prevent the end of Medicare reimbursements. e plan of correction promised "changes with executive leaders and physicians" by Feb. 16, long-term changes in "leadership management" and an analysis of the hospital's infection prevention program. 3. Raymond Phillip Allard, MD, a former orthopedic surgeon at Sparrow Carson, is also under investigation by state regulators. Nurse anesthetist Jonnie Vanderhoef, MSN, CRNA, complained Dr. Allard had high infection rates. Sparrow Carson ended a contract with Mr. Vanderhoef in November, shortly aer the state confirmed an investigation into Dr. Allard. 4. Mr. Vanderhoef filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against Sparrow Carson in February, which alleges he informed hospital leadership of his concerns regarding Dr. Allard "on numerous occasions." 5. Ms. McQuillan, who began in her role as CNO and COO at Sparrow Carson in February 2015, was among the supervisors and administrators Mr. Vanderhoef said knew about his concerns. Mr. Vanderhoef 's lawsuit also claims Ms. McQuillan was one of several hospital leaders involved in his Nov. 3 firing. 6. Ms. McQuillan told state investigators the hospital's administration discussed a surgeon's surgical site infection rates, "but peer review and surgeon interviews had revealed that Staff I's patients had multiple risk factors that placed them at higher risk than average for a post operative infection," according to a CMS report on the hospital's infection issues that includes an interview with Ms. McQuillan. 7. A Sparrow Carson spokesperson declined to elaborate to the Lansing State Journal on the circumstances of Ms. McQuillan's departure. Mr. ompson served as president and CEO of the hospital since 2011. Bill Roeser, president and CEO of Sparrow Ionia (Mich.) Hospital, will provide "interim leadership" at Sparrow Carson Hospital, according to the report. n Study: Children's perceptions of their hospital stays differ from parents' By Megan Knowles P ediatric patients often disagree with their par- ents about the child's experience during hospital stays, according to a study published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Study authors examined more than 6,200 surveys dis- tributed across National Health Service hospitals in the U.K. in 2014. The survey targeted the experiences of hospital patients between ages 8 and 15. The surveys contained a section for parents and section for youth, which could be completed by young patients themselves, by parents or by the patients and their par- ents together. Approximately 60 percent of the patients completed the youth section of the survey themselves, while 28 percent responded jointly with their parents. Although the researchers found parents and their chil- dren tended to agree on the quality of pain relief the child received and the overall quality of the hospital experience, they tended to disagree on the quality of communication with hospital staff, involvement in deci- sion-making, feeling safe and having adequate privacy. "It's increasingly recognized that the best healthcare is based on a partnership between health professionals, patients and their families," lead study author Dr. Dou- gal Hargreaves of the University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, told Reuters. Patient surveys should include children over age 8, and the questionnaires should be tailored for pediatric pa- tients, the study authors suggest. The study authors are developing tools to share decision-making between children and parents and are working to create "child/ young person-friendly" versions of patient experience surveys across various healthcare settings. "Being in the hospital can be an unpleasant and fright- ening experience for a child," Dr. Hargreaves said. "Lis- tening to them shows that the way they feel is important to us, and it allows us to help them through their hospital experience." n

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