Healthcare Inspection – Alleged Insufficient Staffing and Consult Management Issues, Carl Vinson VA Medical Center, Dublin, Georgia

OIG conducted an inspection in response to allegations of insufficient staffing and consult management issues at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center, Dublin, GA. We substantiated that telemetry technicians monitor telemetry patients without registered nurse supervision; however, we did not find this practice to be improper. We did not substantiate the allegation that when nursing assistants provided close observation (visual monitoring of a patient every 10–15 minutes), it increased the nursing assistant’s likelihood of being injured. We substantiated the allegation that, at times, unit 8A East staff scheduled for the midnight tour worked shifts other than their regularly scheduled tours of duty. However, the facility’s standard operating procedures for nurses state that tour changes, compensatory time, and overtime are to be used to assure adequate staffing when reassignment of staff from another area is not feasible. We did not substantiate the allegation that the 8A East midnight tour had a staffing mix of 1 registered nurse (RN) and 2 nursing assistants (NAs) to care for 28 patients. The usual 8A East staffing assignment for the midnight tour included one RN, one licensed practical nurse, and two NAs. We did not substantiate the allegation that Non-VA Care Coordination (NVCC) staff members assigned to a consult clean-up project were not properly trained to process backlogged NVCC consults. We made no recommendations.