University of Colorado Hospital postpones non-emergency surgeries due to staffing shortage

University of Colorado Hospital was forced to postpone specific 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 disclosed Dan Weaver spokesman for UCHealth which owns the hospital He didn t specify how a multitude of people had to wait for non-emergency procedures but noted certain already have new surgery dates scheduled We will be working as hurriedly as achievable to reschedule all elective surgeries and procedures that had been postponed he explained in a comment We sincerely apologize to our patients and thank them for their understanding as we return to normal operations Related Articles Electrocution nearly took this Estes Park woman s hands It didn t take her will to climb again Suspect in Boulder antisemitic terror attack charged with counts including attempted murder What we know about the Pearl Street Mall attack in Boulder Families have to find their own livers because of organ donor shortfall The Colorado Department of Residents Physical condition and Context ratified it was probing 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 inspection is over the state wellness 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 subject s body The state cited hospitals for sterilization problems from to May In the greater part cases staff made mistakes that could have contaminated instruments The state hasn t issued any information suggesting the University of Colorado Hospital wasn t following proper sterilization procedures Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get vitality news sent straight to your inbox