Failure to Safeguard Resident Medical Information on Unattended Medication Carts
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified that the facility failed to maintain the confidentiality of residents' personal and medical records as required by its policy. On two separate occasions, medication carts with computers displaying residents' sensitive medical information were left unattended in hallways. In the first instance, a medication cart on the fourth floor was observed unattended with the computer screen open, displaying a resident's name, date of birth, allergies, advance directives, and current physician orders. The responsible LPN stated they had stepped away after hearing someone coughing and did not lock the computer screen. In a second incident, another medication cart was found unattended beside the nurse station on the third floor, with the computer screen open and visible, displaying another resident's current physician orders. The LPN involved acknowledged forgetting to lock the computer screen before leaving the cart. The Interim Director of Nursing confirmed that all medication cart computer screens are expected to be locked when not in use by nursing staff.