Unattended Unlocked Medication Cart on 700 Hall
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure that drugs and biologicals were stored in locked compartments in accordance with professional standards. During an observation of the 700 hall medication cart, surveyors noted that the medication aide’s cart was left unlocked and unattended in the hallway while the medication aide was inside a resident room. No staff or other individuals were present near the cart at that time. When the medication aide returned to the cart, she found it unlocked and then secured it by locking it. In an interview immediately following the observation, the medication aide acknowledged she was responsible for that cart and confirmed she was expected to lock it whenever she walked away. She stated she forgot to lock the cart and recognized that, if left unlocked, a resident could open a drawer and take medications not intended for them or medications could be stolen. In a separate interview, the DON stated that she, the ADON, and numerous staff were responsible for ensuring medication carts were locked and that her expectation was that staff lock the cart whenever they walked away or when it was out of their view. The facility’s policy, “Security of Medication Cart,” stated that medication carts must be securely locked at all times when out of the nurse’s view and, when not in use, locked and parked at the nurses’ station or inside the medication room.
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