Inadequate Infection Control in Warehouse Storage, Laundry Handling, and Resident Care Area
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves failures in basic infection prevention and control practices, beginning with improper handling of personal items in a resident care area. An activities assistant placed their personal cell phone directly onto a resident’s bed while accessing the resident’s furniture with a key. The assistant acknowledged that the phone was personal, and the concern was recognized by the facility’s Director of Nursing, who stated the assistant had been rushed and not thinking when placing the phone on the bed. Additional deficiencies were identified in the facility’s warehouse storage area during a dual surveyor observation conducted with the Director and Assistant Director of Maintenance. Surveyors observed biohazard waste stored in the same area as open boxes of clean medical gloves and other clean medical supplies, with boxed biohazard waste stacked against boxes of clean items. An opened box of drinking cups and cup lids was stored on the floor near a plastic container of used belongings, including a worn and cracked wheelchair armrest. Lancets, medical tape, and various expired syringes were present without separation of clean and dirty items, and boxed medical supplies such as gloves, incontinence briefs, wound cleanser, and dressing supplies were stored directly on the floor. The Infection Preventionist confirmed that these storage and biohazard management conditions were not acceptable and stated that biohazard waste should never be stored with clean items. Further infection control concerns were identified in the clean and soiled laundry processing areas. In the clean laundry area, surveyors observed an uncovered metal linen cart with facility blankets, towels, washcloths, and sheets piled high, leaning on the wall, and stored close to the floor. There was also an uncovered laundry basket with a pile of clean, unfolded, unidentified resident laundry overflowing and leaning against the wall, along with three additional uncovered containers of unidentified resident laundry under folding tables, one of which had items touching the floor. In the soiled laundry area, multiple unlined large trash bins were overflowing with unbagged resident laundry and facility linens piled high and touching the wall, along with additional containers and a tilt truck filled with bagged and unbagged soiled linens, and the room was described as odorous. The Environmental Services Manager and District EVS Manager confirmed these conditions and the associated infection control concerns, noting that only one of two washing machines was operational, contributing to the volume of soiled laundry present.
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