Unlocked Medication and Treatment Carts Left Unattended in Resident Areas
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified a deficiency in the facility’s failure to keep drugs and biologicals stored in locked compartments as required by facility policy and professional standards. On the [NAME] Unit, a medication cart and a treatment cart were observed unlocked in the hallway with no staff present, while a resident was ambulating near the medication cart. The RN assigned to the cart confirmed both carts were unlocked. The medication cart contained medications including inhalers, topical patches, syringes, topical medications, insulins, prescribed resident-specific medications, and narcotics in a separate locked compartment. The treatment cart contained wound cleansers, prescription topical creams/pastes, and prescription topical powders. On a subsequent observation on the same unit, the medication cart was again found unlocked, and the RN Unit Manager confirmed it should not have been unlocked. On the North Village Unit, surveyors observed another medication cart unlocked and unattended in the corridor, with a resident sitting next to it. The LPN assigned to that cart confirmed it was not locked as required. The RN Unit Manager and the facility’s written policy on Medication Labeling and Storage both state that compartments containing medications and biologicals must be locked when not in use and that carts used to transport such items are not to be left unattended if open or otherwise available to others.
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