Failure to Implement Antibiotic Stewardship Program
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to develop and implement an Antibiotic Stewardship Program with a standardized tool and criteria to assess residents for infections, affecting all 37 residents. The Director of Nursing, who also serves as the Infection Preventionist, reported discontinuing the use of McGeer's Criteria for infection assessment and not utilizing any standardized tool for data collection regarding resident infections. Additionally, the facility did not have a current Antibiotic Stewardship Program policy in place, and tracking of resident antibiotic use was not maintained due to competing work demands. The facility's existing Infection Prevention and Control Program policy referenced the need for an antibiotic stewardship program and monitoring system, but these elements were not operational at the time of the survey.