Failure to Administer IV Antibiotics Within Prescribed Time Frames
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to administer intravenous antibiotics in accordance with prescriber orders for a resident with bacteremia, as evidenced by multiple instances where daptomycin and ceftaroline fosamil were given outside of their scheduled administration times. Specifically, daptomycin was administered between 1 hour and 47 minutes late on several occasions, and ceftaroline fosamil was also administered more than an hour past the scheduled time on multiple dates. These deviations from the prescribed schedule were documented in the Medication Audit Report and confirmed through review of the resident's electronic medical record and care plan. Interviews with facility staff, including an LPN/Unit Manager and the Director of Nursing, revealed that staff were aware of the expectation to administer medications within one hour of the scheduled time and to notify the primary care provider if medications were given late. The facility's medication administration policy also required adherence to prescriber orders and specified that medication times should be based on resident need and optimal therapeutic effect, not staff convenience. Despite these policies and staff knowledge, the antibiotics were not administered within the required time frames.