Failure to Discard Expired Insulin Pens per Facility Policy
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors observed that two opened insulin pens, a Novolog Flexpen and a Lantus Solostart pen, were stored in the facility's medication refrigerator past their labeled discard dates. The Novolog Flexpen was labeled with an open date of 3/8/2025 and a discard date of 4/5/2025, while the Lantus Solostart pen had an open date of 2/5/2025 and was labeled for discard. Both pens remained in the refrigerator despite being past their use dates. During interviews, both an LVN and the DON confirmed that opened insulin pens should not be kept in the refrigerator and that medications labeled for discard should be removed and not left in storage. A review of the facility's policy and procedure for medication storage indicated that discontinued, outdated, or deteriorated drugs or biologicals are to be returned to the dispensing pharmacy or destroyed. The failure to remove and discard the expired insulin pens was not in accordance with the facility's policy and created the potential for medication dispensing errors, as staff could inadvertently administer medication that should have been discarded.