Medications Left Unattended at Bedside
Penalty
Summary
A nurse failed to ensure that medications were administered under direct observation, resulting in medications being left unattended at the bedside of a resident. The resident, who was moderately cognitively impaired and had diagnoses including diabetes with polyneuropathy, hypertension, and depression, was found with a medication cup containing six pills of various shapes and sizes on his overbed table. The resident was unsure what the pills were or why they were there. The nurse responsible stated that she had brought the medications to the resident earlier in the morning but became distracted by the resident's roommate and did not confirm that the resident had taken the medications. Facility policy, as confirmed by the DON and Administrator, requires nurses to remain with residents until all medications are taken or to remove the medications from the room if the resident does not wish to take them at the scheduled time. In this instance, the nurse did not follow this protocol, resulting in the medications being left unattended in the resident's room.