UCI Medical Center Tried 'Too Much'
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...-pe-california
UCI Medical Center's ambitions have far outpaced its ability to successfully care for its patients, according to an unusually frank assessment of the chronically troubled university hospital released Thursday.
A panel of five experts, formed after a scandal forced the closure of the Orange hospital's liver transplant program in the fall, described clinical programs with "marginal staffing and inadequate resources."
…The report repeatedly cited an alarming lack of accountability among several medical school and hospital executives. Sometimes, the officials passed the buck or failed to take responsibility; on other occasions, they misled regulators or tried to minimize the seriousness of problems, the panelists found….
…Shine said the campus should close programs found to be beyond repair and ensure that those remaining are rigorously reviewed on a regular basis to detect problems in quality.
He said whistle-blowers should never be targeted for intimidation and punishment, as some faculty say has occurred at UCI. "Legitimate complaints of people were not necessarily addressed in an appropriate way," Shine said. In some cases, he added, when the actions of some staff were challenged, they took it as a personal affront, and "that is unacceptable."…
…In response, UCI assigned an experienced nurse "to manage the personality differences and provide some level of mediation between the physicians and the staff."…
Background links:
http://www.nshp.org/?q=node/1340
http://www.latimes.com/features/heal...ealth-medicine
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...cle_995674.php
http://www.californiahealthline.org/...&ClassCD=CL117
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