Medication Storage and Labeling Deficiencies Identified
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors observed multiple deficiencies in medication storage and labeling practices during reviews of two medication carts. On one cart, there was an unopened tube of glucose for a discharged resident, an opened and undated bottle of Milk of Magnesia, an opened bottle of antacid tablets without a resident label, fourteen loose pills, and an opened package of Albuterol inhalation vials with no resident identifier. Additionally, an overflow medication cart contained an unopened box of Omeprazole tablets with no resident identifiers. During interviews, staff confirmed that medications should have been labeled and dated when opened, and that loose pills should not have been present in the carts. A separate observation on the Memory Care Unit revealed four loose pills in the drawers of another medication cart. Staff interviewed at the time acknowledged that loose pills should not be in the cart. The facility's policy on medication labeling and storage, as provided by the Quality Assurance Administrator, requires nursing staff to maintain medication storage areas in a clean, safe, and sanitary manner, and to ensure medications are properly labeled in accordance with federal and state requirements. The observed failures to label, date, and properly store medications directly contravened these established policies.