Failure to Follow Infection Control Procedures During Wound Care and Medication Handling
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to follow established infection control procedures for two residents during wound care and medication handling. For one resident with multiple pressure ulcers, diabetes, gangrene, and osteomyelitis, a registered nurse did not clean scissors before use during a dressing change and failed to perform hand hygiene between glove changes and before applying wound treatments, despite facility policy requiring hand hygiene before and after glove use and after contact with potentially contaminated materials. The infection preventionist confirmed that scissors should be cleaned after each use and hand hygiene should be performed with each glove change, which was not done during the observed dressing change. In a separate incident, another staff member did not maintain infection control measures when handling a multiuse bottle of Dakins Solution. The LPN placed the bottle directly on an unclean overbed table and later on a fabric chair cushion in a resident's room without sanitizing the bottle before returning it to the treatment cart. The infection preventionist stated that the solution should have been stored in a zip lock bag in the treatment cart, and the observed handling did not meet infection control expectations.