Failure to Label and Discard Medications per Policy
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified that the facility failed to ensure proper labeling and storage of drugs and biologicals as required by professional standards and facility policy. Specifically, insulin, eye drops, and nose spray containers for three residents were found open without the date of opening labeled on the containers. Observations of medication carts revealed that these medications were in use without the required labeling, despite the facility's policy mandating that all such medications be labeled with the date upon opening. Both the Director of Nursing and a Licensed Practical Nurse confirmed that these items should have been labeled with the date they were opened. Additionally, the facility failed to discard expired insulin for two residents. During the same medication cart observations, insulin vials were found with open dates and expiration instructions indicating they should have been discarded, but they remained in the carts. The facility's policy requires that discontinued, outdated, or deteriorated drugs be returned to the pharmacy or destroyed, and the Director of Nursing acknowledged that the expired insulins should have been destroyed by nursing staff.