Last week, anonymous complaints surfaced that accused staff members at the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center of running a beauty salon in the hospital’s intensive care unit for newborn infants.
The complaints were filed with the Joint Commission, a private institution that accredits hospitals.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services began an investigation into the matter last week and so far has put two staffers on paid administrative leave, said Michael Wilson, a spokesman for the Department of Health Services.
UCLA’s involvement with the medical center is not related to the areas of the hospital that are under investigation, said Dale Tate, a UCLA spokeswoman.
UCLA oversees the medical residency programs at Olive View and does not administer or operate the hospital. In addition, there are no UCLA medical residents who work in Olive View’s intensive care unit for newborn infants, she said.
Administrative responsibility at the hospital belongs to L.A. County, according to an e-mailed statement from Roxanne Moster, a UCLA spokeswoman.
Because no UCLA residents are involved with neonatal intensive care at Olive View, the university is not concerned with the quality of graduate medical education the hospital provides, according to Tate.
Individual departments within the school of medicine assign medical residents to training locations based on the type of in-depth training the department determines each resident needs, according to Elaine Schmidt, a UCLA spokeswoman.
Several UCLA departments rotate residents to Olive View, where they are supervised by on-site physicians.
Wilson said he doesn’t know how long the Department of Health Services’ investigation will take, but he said it will be thorough.