Expired Medications and Supplies Not Removed from Medication Cart and Storage Room
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide pharmaceutical services that ensured the accurate removal of expired or discontinued medications and supplies from both a medication cart and the medication storage room. During an observation of the secure unit's medication cart, two insulin pens for a resident were found to be beyond their 28-day use period after opening. The pens, a Lantus Solostar and an Insulin Lispro, had open dates and corresponding expiration dates that had already passed, but remained on the cart until they were identified and discarded during the survey. The nurse present acknowledged that it was her responsibility to check expiration dates prior to administration and confirmed that the pens should have been removed. In a separate observation of the medication storage room, eight bottles of Jevity 1.2K tube feeding formula were found to be expired and had not been removed from stock. The DON confirmed that these expired products should have been discarded and stated that the pharmacy consultant had not recently reviewed the storage areas. Facility policy and manufacturer instructions for medication storage and use were reviewed, confirming that the insulin pens should have been discarded after 28 days from opening. Interviews with staff indicated that the responsibility for removing expired products was shared among nursing staff, the DON, and the pharmacy consultant.