Failure to Properly Store Respiratory Equipment and Post Oxygen in Use Signage
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to follow its own policies and procedures for nebulizer and oxygen therapy for two residents. For one resident with a physician’s order for albuterol-ipratropium via nebulizer every six hours, surveyors observed the nebulizer mask lying face down and the nebulizer tubing connected to the machine on the nightstand, not stored in a plastic bag, and not labeled with the resident’s name or date, contrary to the facility’s nebulizer therapy policy. This resident was also using an oxygen concentrator at the bedside with two portable oxygen tanks present, but there was no “oxygen in use” signage posted outside the room as required by the facility’s oxygen therapy policy. The OT and an LVN both confirmed the mask and tubing were not bagged, dated, or labeled, and verified the absence of the required oxygen signage. For another resident with asthma and an order to use oxygen via nasal cannula as needed to maintain oxygen saturation above 92%, surveyors observed oxygen tubing curled around a portable oxygen tank in an oxygen holder on the back of the resident’s wheelchair. The tubing was not stored in a plastic bag and was not labeled, despite the facility’s oxygen therapy policy requiring oxygen delivery equipment to be changed weekly, stored in a plastic bag at the bedside when not in use, and used for a single resident only. This resident was on oxygen therapy via concentrator and nasal cannula at the time of observation, yet there was no “oxygen in use” signage posted outside the room entrance. A CNA and an LVN both verified that the tubing was not bagged or labeled and that the required oxygen signage was not present. The Infection Preventionist later acknowledged that oxygen and nebulizer tubing should be changed, bagged, and dated weekly and as needed, and that oxygen in use signage should be posted for all rooms with residents using oxygen.
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