Medication Storage and Labeling Deficiencies Identified
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to ensure that medication carts were kept locked when unattended, as observed during a complaint survey. On one nursing unit, a medication cart was found unlocked and unattended in a hallway while the nurse responsible was inside a resident's room with her back to the door, leaving the cart out of her line of sight. The surveyor was able to open the cart and found a cup containing pre-poured medications with no resident name labeled. The nurse later stated that the medications were for a resident who was unavailable due to therapy. Further inspection of the medication cart revealed multiple deficiencies in medication labeling and storage. Several opened medications, including inhalers and insulin pens, were not dated as required by manufacturer instructions. Additionally, insulin pens that required refrigeration were found in the cart without being refrigerated, despite being labeled with refrigerate stickers. The facility's own medication storage policy requires that only authorized personnel have access to medications and that multi-dose medications be dated upon opening, but these procedures were not followed.