University of Colorado Hospital was forced to postpone some non-emergency surgeries this month after a staffing shortage in the sterilization department led to concerns about having enough clean instruments.
The hospital, in Aurora, prioritized emergencies and urgent cases during the shortfall, but is starting to return to a more-normal volume of pre-scheduled procedures, said Dan Weaver, spokesman for UCHealth, which owns the hospital.
He didn’t specify how many people had to wait for non-emergency procedures, but said some already have new surgery dates scheduled.
“We will be working as quickly as possible to reschedule all elective surgeries and procedures that had been postponed,” he said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize to our patients and thank them for their understanding as we return to normal operations.”
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed it was investigating a complaint involving the University of Colorado Hospital this week, but declined to say whether it had anything to do with instrument sterilization. Once the investigation is over, the state health department will post the results on its website.
Sterilizing surgical instruments is a complex process, and technicians must undergo training to ensure they don’t miss a step and leave germs on equipment that will go into a patient’s body. The state cited 16 hospitals for sterilization problems from 2019 to May 2024. In most cases, staff made mistakes that could have contaminated instruments.
The state hasn’t released any information suggesting the University of Colorado Hospital wasn’t following proper sterilization procedures.
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