Illinois Nursing Homes Fined for Safety Violations
Two nursing homes in Illinois have been fined by the Illinois Department of Public Health for violations that endangered the lives of residents in the facilities.
One of the facilities was fined $25,000 related to medication errors. One resident was given another resident’s medication, causing the resident to requiring hospitalization in the intensive care unit of the hospital. The resident’s daughter told hospital staff that this was the second time the resident had been given the wrong medication.
The other nursing home was given a stiffer fine of $50,000 for several infractions—failure to ensure the safety of a resident while providing personal care, failure to adequately supervise residents with histories of falls, and medication errors. Details in the complaint about this nursing home indicated that a patient’s arm was fractured when staff were dressing her, another resident with a history of falls was injured when he fell while unsupervised and hit his head, and a third resident suffered bruising after accidentally being hit in the head with the bed remote while receiving care.
Compliance Perspective
Failure to carefully follow the protocols for dispensing the correct medication, in the right dosage, to the right resident; failure to protect residents from injury while providing personal care; and failure to adequately monitor residents with a history of falls may be regarded as placing residents in jeopardy of serious harm and providing substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations, and subject to significant fines.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding protocols to follow for ensuring that medications are dispensed accurately, staff use adequate caution when providing personal care, and residents with a history of falling receive their required level of supervision.
- Train staff in the protocols for ensuring accurate dispensing of medications to the right resident. Training should also include protocols for ensuring resident safety during personal care, and the importance of providing adequate supervision of residents at high risk for falls according to their individualized care plan interventions.
- Periodically audit medication administration, ensuring that annual competencies are completed. Observe provision of resident care and ensure competencies of direct caregivers are conducted annually and as needed. Audit care plans of residents at high risk for falls to determine if protocols and interventions are appropriate and being followed.
