Nicholasville Nursing and Rehab: Infection Control Failures - KY
The observation happened at 3:10 p.m. on August 20, 2025. The therapist had just left the room where Resident 34, a COVID-positive patient, was housed. She kept the mask on as she walked to the end of A Hall, continued through B Hall, and made her way to the therapy department before finally removing it.
When inspectors spoke with her five minutes later, she said she had worked at the facility for nine months. She was sure she had received infection control training, she said, but could not remember it. She confirmed the mask she had worn in the COVID-positive room was the same one now sitting in the therapy department trash can. She acknowledged that if proper donning and doffing was not practiced when entering and exiting a COVID-positive room, the infection could spread throughout the facility.
That understanding did not change what inspectors had just seen.
The mask issue was not confined to one therapist. Inspectors also found staff disagreeing with each other, and with their own training, about something as basic as whether to wear a surgical mask underneath an N-95. One senior nursing assistant said she was trained not to double-mask because it could increase the chances of becoming infected and spreading germs. A second said the same, adding that a second mask interfered with the proper seal of the N-95 and raised the risk of cross-contamination. A third said she did wear a surgical mask under her N-95 for extra protection, and that nobody had told her otherwise.
The Director of Nursing Services confirmed what the first two staff members said: the facility did not train staff to double-mask, because doing so interfered with the N-95 seal and could spread COVID throughout the building. The Executive Director, who also served as the facility's Infection Preventionist, said the same thing. Staff was trained not to double-mask and should not be doing it.
None of that reached the third nursing assistant.
The Director of Nursing had been at the facility for one month when inspectors interviewed her on August 22. She said she could not speak to what infection control procedures looked like before she arrived. Since getting there, she said, she had conducted in-services across two to three days to cover all shifts, reviewed PPE requirements, and observed staff perform return demonstrations of donning and doffing. After the first resident tested positive for COVID, she said, each staff member received an information packet.
The Executive Director said staff was trained on infection control at hire, then annually, and again whenever a resident was placed in isolation. She said proper signage on isolation room doors was supposed to tell staff exactly what PPE to put on and when to remove it. Without that signage, she acknowledged, staff would have no guidance, and there would be a risk of spreading germs.
She had been in the building since February 2025. She had taken on the Infection Preventionist role in August 2025, the same month inspectors arrived.
The inspection was a complaint survey. Inspectors cited the facility under F0880, the federal infection control standard, and classified the level of harm as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting some residents.
What the inspection captured was a gap between what the facility said it taught and what staff actually did. The occupational therapist carried a potentially contaminated mask past other residents' rooms for the length of two hallways. She did it in plain sight, in the middle of the afternoon, nine months into her tenure at the facility. When asked about it, she could not remember her training.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Nicholasville Nursing and Rehabilitation from 2025-08-22 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: July 2, 2026 · Our methodology
Nicholasville Nursing and Rehabilitation in Nicholasville, KY was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 22, 2025.
The observation happened at 3:10 p.m.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.