Skip to content
Health
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

Nine months of inspections at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital: March to November 2024

The hospital was cited for failing to properly monitor a patient being treated for septic shock.

Health inspectors made a dozen visits to the Jefferson Health flagship hospital during the nine month period.
Health inspectors made a dozen visits to the Jefferson Health flagship hospital during the nine month period.Read moreAnton Klusener/ Staff illustration/ Getty Images

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital was cited by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for a paperwork violation after nurses failed to properly document cardiac monitoring for a patient who was being treated for septic shock.

The incident was one of a dozen times state health inspectors visited Jefferson Health’s flagship medical center to investigate potential safety problems between March and November 2024.

Here’s a look at the publicly available details:

  1. May 8: Inspectors followed up on a previous complaint in January 2024, regarding a patient who went missing from the emergency department, and found the hospital was in compliance.

  2. May 30: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.

  3. Aug. 13: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.

  4. Aug. 29: Inspectors came to investigate two complaints but found the hospital was in compliance.

  5. Aug. 9: Inspectors cited the hospital for failing to properly document heart rhythm strips for a patient with septic shock who required cardiac monitoring. Administrators retrained nurses on cardiac monitoring protocol and assigned float nurses to check that monitoring was being documented correctly.

  6. Sept. 27: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.

  7. Sept. 25: Inspectors cited the hospital for beginning a compounding pharmacy service at its main campus and Jefferson Methodist Hospital, which operates under the same license, before receiving formal health department approval. Administrators agreed to notify the health department of new services at least 60 days in advance, as required by state law, and retrained staff on occupancy regulations.

  8. Oct. 9: Inspectors came to investigate two complaints but found the hospital was in compliance.

  9. Oct. 4: Inspectors conducted a mental health survey and found the hospital was in compliance.

  10. Oct. 25: Inspectors conducted a special monitoring survey at Jefferson’s outpatient rehabilitation center on Cecil B. Moore Avenue and found the facility was in compliance.

  11. Oct. 29: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.

  12. Oct. 23: Inspectors followed up on the September citation regarding the compounding pharmacy and found the hospital was in compliance.