Failure to Properly Label, Date, and Dispose of Medications
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified that the facility failed to ensure medications and biologicals were properly dated, labeled, and not expired, as required by professional standards. During observations, multiple instances were found where insulin vials for two residents were undated, and a medication cart contained both undated and expired Lantus insulin for two other residents. Additionally, the medication storage room contained intravenous (IV) tubing bags and vaccine vials with only month and year dating, and not all items were properly labeled. These findings were confirmed through interviews with nursing staff and the Director of Nursing, who acknowledged the presence of undated and expired medications. The facility also failed to dispose of medications appropriately. Observations revealed that flu vaccine vials were discarded in a lidless trash can next to the medication cart, which was confirmed by an LPN to be an inappropriate disposal method. The same LPN subsequently removed the vaccines from the trash can and disposed of them correctly. The facility's own medication administration policy requires expiration dates to be checked and open dates to be placed on multi-dose vials, but these procedures were not consistently followed, affecting a significant number of residents.