Brooke Army Medical Center says it is immediately cutting back on elective surgeries as it deals with problems with a backlog in properly sterilized surgical instruments at the sprawling Army hospital, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"The backlog was a key indicator that BAMC needed to temporarily reduce the number of surgical procedures," the hospital said in a statement.
BAMC says over the past year, it has intentionally become busier, 'to sustain war-time skills and training opportunities for health professionals.'
"While matching the surgical demand with the supporting service supply, some elective surgeries have been postponed," the hospital said. "In the meantime, BAMC has been closely monitoring surgical infection rates and has seen on increase."
BAMC says it will also evaluate multiple courses of action in regards to staffing, required equipment, space needs, as well as time utilization and process evaluation. One area where more staffing will be added is in operating room technicians in its Sterilization Processing and Distribution unit to help reduce the backlog in instrument sets and ensure surgeons are equipped for procedures.
Since adding all military medical training as a result of the 2006 round of base closings, BAMC is now the largest hospital in the U.S. military.
The hospital says this step will not affect BAMC's ability to serve as a Level One Trauma Center, one of two in San Antonio, which treats everything from gunshot wounds to traffic accident victims.
"This temporary reduction will not affect trauma patients or urgent surgical procedures," BAMC Commander Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Johnson said. "Everything we do is focused on providing the highest quality care to our patients."