The California Department of Health has issued an All Facilities Letter addressing medication safety concerns, specifically the storage of medications requiring refrigeration. Healthcare facilities, including nursing homes, must store medications at the appropriate temperature as specified by the manufacturer to ensure optimal efficacy. The expected storage temperature range for refrigerated medications is 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. Facilities must develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure safe storage of medications, proper disposal of unusable drug products, and maintenance of storage equipment. An alerting system should be in place to identify temperature limit breaches. Periodic inspections of medication storage areas must be conducted by qualified staff. For refrigerators storing vaccines, temperatures should be monitored and recorded twice a day.

Summaries are generataed using AI. Check important information.