Residential Care Citation Update

In April 2014 the ISDH issues 34 Deficiency tags and 7 Offense tags to Residential Care Facilities.  This is the high mark for any month so far in 2014, and the highest since the government shutdown in 2013 that permitted more surveys of Residential Care Facilities to take place since SNFs/NFs were not being surveyed.  While there a were a few tags concerning infection control, pharmacy services, and residents rights in April, the number of citations for Tag 273, 9 in April, and Tag 241, 5 in April, continue to be the most cited tags in 2014 (and 2013).

Tag 273 concerning maintenance of food preparation and service areas in accordance with state and local standards was cited due to issues with:
(1) lack of employees wearing hairnets or hairnets not completely covering all hair (including facial hair);
(2) broken or inoperable food transport containers;
(3) overflowing trash cans;
(4) unkempt service areas; and
(5) food service employees without gloves. 
Tag 241 concerning medication administration according to physician orders was cited for:
(1) crushing pills without a physician order;
(2) discontinuing a medication without having the physician order recorded in the chart;
(3) incorrect dosage administration;
(4) antibiotic orders being switched but both drugs continuing to be administered; and
(5) a QMA not observing the resident actually taking the medication that was dispensed to the resident.

Overall for the year the top cited tags at the Deficiency or Offense level are Tag 273 (16 times), Tag 241 (13 times), Tag 117 (7 times), Tag 90 (6 times) and Tag 217 (6 times).  Please click here for a summary of the April citations.