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Drug Errors Common at Nursing Homes

More than 40 percent of Florida’s nursing homes have been cited for problems related to medication errors in the past three years, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

Recently, state inspectors cited the Daytona Beach Health and Rehabilitation Center for multiple serious mishaps, from doubling a resident’s medication to giving the pills of one patient to another, according to the News-Journal. The nursing home paid a $22,000 fine to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

A total of 43 percent of Florida nursing homes have been cited for deficiencies linked to medication errors in the past three years, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. LuMarie Polivka-West, senior director of policy for Florida Health Care Association, said nursing homes don’t have the level of computer technology other facilities do to catch errors. A high staff turnover is also a problem.

Daytona Beach Health and Rehabilitation Center was one of eight nursing homes in Florida cited in a study for committing medication errors grievous enough to put patients in harms way, the News-Journal reports. 

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.