Elective surgeries still on hold at Good Sam as sterilization investigation continues
Non-emergency surgeries at MultiCare’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup remain on hold as the health system continues to investigate a “foreign matter” discovered during its sterilization process.
Marce Edwards, MultiCare spokeswoman, told The News Tribune in response to questions late Tuesday that elective surgeries would be on pause through Dec. 3.
“The pan labels were one source of the foreign material,” Edwards told The News Tribune via email. “We’re still investigating additional sources.”
Later Wednesday, Edwards told The News Tribune via email: “We have determined that rubber from some gaskets and from the trays also were a cause. We are working to make sure all that material is removed from the washers and the sterilizers.”
“We also have a mobile sterilization unit that arrived on Saturday that we are installing. We expect it to be operational this weekend,” she added.
Emergency surgeries are still continuing at the hospital. Surgeries that can be transferred are being sent to other MultiCare surgical facilities.
The health system paused non-emergency surgeries at the hospital earlier in November after what it described as “foreign matter” was detected in the on-site sterilization process of surgical trays.
Edwards told The News Tribune at that time that one of the sources identified was labels that are on the outside of pans, which carry instruments through the sterilization process. Some of the labels were found to be degrading and getting stuck in the washer before sterilization.
The issue was detected before any of the supplies came into contact with patients, according to Edwards in the initial announcement.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 8:41 AM.
