By Healthcare Facilities Today

Summerlin Hospital Medical Center will update visitor policies and retrain staff about wearing proper protective gear after a state investigation, triggered by the death of a Las Vegas woman to tuberculosis, showed the facility didn’t take basic precautions to prevent the spread of infection, according to an article on the Las Vegas Review Journal website.

The Nevada Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance cited Summerlin for not documenting whether the woman was told to wear a gown and mask to block airborne diseases from spreading while visiting one of her newborn twins in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the article said.

The mother had a 103-degree fever during the visit according to the report, but the cause of her illness was undiagnosed at the time. Hospital logs show a doctor talked “at length” with her at the infant’s bedside. Hospital staff told investigators they would have advised a parent running a temperature not to visit or to at least wear a gown and mask, the article said.

People with symptoms of infectious disease such as runny nose, fever, coughing and lesions will be asked not visit the neonatal unit, according to Summerlin’s response to the report. According to the article, staff also will be told to inform supervisors about visitors that show signs of illness.

State investigators also said they saw a nurse who wasn’t wearing gloves treat a patient with staph infection.

Vanessa White, 25, died July 1 at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her family transferred her there as her health deteriorated without a diagnosis at Summerlin, according to the article. 

Read the article.