Failure to Disinfect Glucometer Between Resident Uses
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to sanitize a glucometer in accordance with its infection prevention and control policy for one resident. During an observation, an RN removed a glucometer from the third-floor medication cart and placed it directly on top of the cart without a clean barrier. Without cleaning the glucometer, the RN took it, along with an alcohol pad and lancet, into the resident’s room, obtained a blood glucose reading, and then returned the glucometer to the medication cart without disinfecting it before or after use. The resident’s record showed diagnoses including diabetes mellitus and dementia, with a physician’s order to check blood glucose twice daily. In interviews, the RN stated she should have used a disinfectant wipe to clean the glucometer and acknowledged that facility policy required staff to use wipes before and after blood sugars were taken to ensure the device was clean for the next resident, and that failure to clean it could cause an infection control problem. An LPN and the Clinical Support Nurse both confirmed that facility policy required glucometers to be cleaned with disinfectant wipes stored in each medication cart before and after each resident use. The written policy titled “Cleaning Of Glucometer” specified that the glucometer would be disinfected after completing a blood sugar using a commercial disinfectant wipe, kept visibly wet for the manufacturer’s required contact time, placed in a covered container during this period, and allowed to air dry before reuse.
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