Failure to Administer Available Ordered Medications as Prescribed
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure residents were free from significant medication errors, specifically related to not administering ordered medications despite their availability. One resident with type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, and hypokalemia was admitted with a history of chronically elevated systolic blood pressure up to the 190s and had multiple antihypertensive medications ordered from the hospital, including lisinopril, amlodipine, atenolol, hydralazine, and hydrochlorothiazide. Facility physician orders mirrored these medications, but the evening doses of atenolol and hydralazine on the day of admission were not given, and the following day the resident did not receive hydrochlorothiazide, lisinopril, or the morning doses of amlodipine, hydralazine, and atenolol. Blood pressure readings during this period showed elevated values, including 193/99, and a late-entry nursing note documented that the resident’s blood pressure was elevated and that medications had just arrived from the pharmacy, even though the facility’s Medication Inventory on Hand report showed all ordered antihypertensives were available. Another resident with Parkinson’s disease with dyskinesia, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and gait abnormalities had a hospital order for carbidopa-levodopa 25/100 mg three times daily. The facility’s physician orders continued carbidopa-levodopa three times daily, though it was incorrectly indicated for convulsions. The MAR showed that this resident did not receive the evening and bedtime doses of carbidopa-levodopa on the first day and did not receive the bedtime dose the following day, despite the medication being available per the Medication Inventory on Hand report. Nursing documentation for those days did not indicate that the resident refused the medication, and the DON confirmed that the medication was not administered as ordered. A third resident with acute systolic heart failure, acute pulmonary edema, cardiomegaly, and hypertension was discharged from the hospital with an order for carvedilol 6.25 mg twice daily. The facility’s physician order matched this, including parameters to hold the dose if systolic blood pressure was less than 100 or pulse was less than 60. On the day of admission, the resident’s blood pressure and heart rate were within the parameters for administration, but the evening dose of carvedilol was not given according to the MAR. Nursing notes did not document any refusal of the medication, and the Medication Inventory on Hand report showed carvedilol was available. The DON verified that this resident’s medication was also not administered per physician orders. Facility policies required medications to be administered according to written physician orders and directed staff to use on-hand medication supplies when pharmacy medications were not yet available.
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