F0695

D

Failure to Properly Store and Date Nebulizer Equipment

Pineville, Louisiana Survey Completed on 02-24-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

Facility policy titled "Oxygen Concentrator Cleaning Policy and Procedure" directed that oxygen tubing, cannulas, and masks be stored in a plastic bag when not in use and be changed weekly and as needed. Resident #10, admitted on 01/02/2025, had diagnoses including anemia, Parkinson’s disease without dyskinesia, other specified symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systems, and a personal history of pneumonia. Physician orders from 11/24/2025 directed that the resident receive Ipratropium-Albuterol inhalation solution via nebulizer every six hours for respiratory symptoms. On 02/22/2026 at 1:55 p.m., surveyor observation revealed a nebulizer machine on the resident’s bedside table with the nebulizer mask lying on top of the machine, uncovered and undated, contrary to the facility’s policy requiring such equipment to be covered and dated. In an interview shortly thereafter, an LPN confirmed that the resident received routine breathing treatments, that she had administered a treatment earlier that day, and that the nebulizer mask and tubing should have been covered and dated but were not.

This failure to follow the facility’s oxygen equipment storage and maintenance policy for Resident #10’s nebulizer mask and tubing constituted the cited deficiency.