Expired Medication and Undated Insulin Pens During Medication Storage Review
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves failure to ensure medications were stored and labeled in accordance with accepted professional standards and the facility’s own medication administration policy. During a medication pass for a resident ordered cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) 500 mcg, an LPN retrieved a multi-use bottle of cyanocobalamin from the medication cart and dispensed a tablet into the resident’s medication cup. The surveyor observed that the expiration date on this bottle had already passed. The LPN confirmed the medication was expired and removed the tablet from the cup before obtaining a new, in-date bottle from the medication room and dispensing a replacement tablet. Additional deficiencies were identified during inspection of a medication cart on the 100 hallway with the same LPN present. Three multi-dose insulin pens stored in the cart were not dated to indicate when they were first accessed, despite the facility’s policy requiring the opening date to be recorded on multi-use medications. The undated pens included a Humalog insulin pen for one resident, a Lantus insulin pen for another resident, and a Novolog insulin pen for a third resident. Pharmacy labels on these pens showed fill dates, but there was no documentation of the date of first use, which is needed to determine when the pens should be discarded. The LPN confirmed that these insulin pens had not been dated when first accessed.
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