Failure to Properly Store and Label Personal Care Items
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified a deficiency in the facility's infection prevention and control program related to the storage of personal care items. Observations on multiple occasions revealed that urinals and bath basins in several resident bathrooms were not labeled or bagged as required by facility policy. Specifically, these items were found unlabeled and unbagged in bathrooms on Wing S and Wing W, despite the policy stating that bedpans and urinals are for single resident use, must be labeled with the resident's name, and stored in the resident's bedside cabinet. The facility's Director of Nursing confirmed during rounding that these items should have been bagged and labeled with the resident's room number. Interviews with staff, including a CNA, indicated that the expectation was for urinals and bath basins to be cleaned after each use, then bagged and labeled. However, the observed practice did not align with these expectations or the written policy. The failure to properly label and store these personal care items was noted in four of 31 bathrooms, indicating a lapse in adherence to infection control protocols as outlined by the facility.