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Six months of safety inspections at Lankenau Medical Center: August to January

A medication error drew one of the state's most serious warnings, immediate jeopardy.

Inspectors visited Lankenau Medical Center three times for potential safety problems.
Inspectors visited Lankenau Medical Center three times for potential safety problems.Read moreAnton Klusener/ Staff illustration/ Getty Images

Lankenau Medical Center received one of the state’s most serious safety warnings after a nurse gave a patient a double dose of a powerful pain medication in August.

The incident, first reported by The Inquirer in October, was one of three visits inspectors made to the Montgomery County hospital for potential safety violations between August and January.

Here’s a look at the publicly available details:

  1. Aug. 23: Inspectors concluded that a nurse had failed to follow hospital protocol for using potentially dangerous drugs when they gave a double dose of an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain. The patient was found unresponsive, given the overdose-reversing drug naloxone and treated in the ICU. Inspectors issued an immediate jeopardy warning, a sign of life-threatening safety problems, and lifted the sanctions hours later after hospital administers provided a plan to fix the issues inspectors cited. All nurses were retrained on how to administer medications and special policies for controlled substances, such as opioid painkillers. Hospital administrators conducted 30 audits per week for 30 days to ensure nurses were following protocol.

  2. Nov. 9: Inspectors investigated a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.

  3. Dec. 11: Inspectors investigated a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.