Medication Storage and Security Deficiencies
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to ensure that medication carts were kept locked and that refrigerated medications were stored properly on the second floor. Multiple observations revealed that medication carts assigned to different licensed nurses were left unlocked and unattended. Specifically, one nurse left the cart unlocked while coming out of a resident's room, another was unaware her cart was unlocked, and a third left the cart unlocked while retrieving supplies from the kitchen. These incidents were confirmed by interviews with the involved staff and the nursing supervisor. Additionally, the medication refrigerator in the second floor medication room was found to have a temperature reading of 50 degrees, with the top of the refrigerator frozen and water dripping onto the medications, resulting in all contents being wet. These conditions were observed and confirmed by the nursing supervisor. Facility policies require that all medications and biologicals be stored in locked compartments and under proper temperature conditions, but these requirements were not met during the survey.