F0602

D

Unaccounted Controlled Medication Following Pharmacy Delivery

Lenoir, North Carolina Survey Completed on 02-26-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to protect a resident’s narcotic medications from misappropriation. A resident admitted on an unspecified date had physician orders for oxycodone 5 mg tablets, one tablet every 12 hours for pain, and an additional 5 mg oxycodone order every 6 hours as needed for breakthrough pain, which was later discontinued. Pharmacy records showed that two 30‑tablet cards (total 60 tablets) of 5 mg oxycodone immediate‑release were delivered for this resident on 09/04/25 at 10:38 PM, with the delivery receipt signed by a nurse (Nurse #3). The medications were supposed to be handled as controlled substances and documented on controlled drug count sheets kept with the medication cart.

Nurse #3 reported that opioid or narcotic medications arrived in sealed purple bags and that the receiving nurse was responsible for verifying the medication and quantity before signing the delivery sheet. She verified that she signed for the resident’s oxycodone delivery on 09/04/25 and stated she distinctly remembered two 30‑tablet cards being delivered and that she verified the count and medication before signing. She further stated that after signing, she gave the resident’s oxycodone to the nurse assigned to the resident (Nurse #4) so that two separate controlled drug count sheets could be completed, one for each card. However, only one controlled drug count sheet was ultimately completed, and Nurse #3 stated she did not know what happened to the resident’s oxycodone and that it never made it to the medication cart as expected.

Review of the controlled drug count sheet for the relevant medication cart from 08/31/25 through 09/06/25 showed that at the 3:00 PM shift change on 09/04/25 there were 41 cards of medications on the cart, verified by the oncoming nurse, Nurse #4. At 11:00 PM, Nurse #4 again signed that there were 41 cards, with no additions or subtractions documented during her shift, and the two oxycodone cards delivered for the resident on 09/04/25 were not added to the controlled drug count sheet. The DON later confirmed awareness that 30 oxycodone tablets were missing for this resident and that the discrepancy came to light when a nurse attempted to refill the oxycodone and the pharmacy reported it was too early because 60 tablets had already been delivered and at least 30 should still have been available. The DON reported that a search of the medication cart did not locate the additional card and that, despite interviews and review of records, it could not be determined whether the pharmacy failed to deliver both cards or whether one card went missing between pharmacy delivery and placement on the medication cart. The former Administrator similarly recalled that the investigation focused on the nurse assigned to the cart at the time but that the missing card of oxycodone could not be accounted for.