F0761

D

Undated Open Ophthalmic Medications on Medication Cart

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

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

Surveyors identified a deficiency in medication labeling and storage on the Hall 100 medication cart, where two ophthalmic medications were found open without documented open dates. During an observation with a nurse, one plastic squeeze bottle of brimonidine/timolol 0.2/0.5% eye drops, used to treat eye conditions such as glaucoma, and one plastic squeeze bottle of olopatadine 0.2% eye drops, an antihistamine for allergic conjunctivitis, were noted to be open with no open date recorded, despite manufacturer instructions that each be used or discarded within four weeks of opening. The nurse present stated that medications were supposed to be dated when initially opened but she had not been present when these bottles were opened and could not explain why they were not dated. The DON confirmed that facility practice required nurses to date medications when opened and to check any open medication for an open date before administering it, but this had not occurred for the two eye drop bottles on the Hall 100 cart.