Greater Southside Health and Rehab: Pain Med Failure - IA
The resident, identified in inspection records as R#4, was admitted to the facility on August 22, 2025. He had acute osteomyelitis, an inflammation of bone that can produce severe, constant pain, along with pain in both knees. His care plan called for scheduled pain medication and as-needed medication to be given thirty minutes before treatments or personal care.
On August 29, a nurse practitioner named Staff J visited R#4 and documented that he reported his pain at 10 out of 10. She wrote an order that day to restart oxycodone 5 milligrams every six hours as needed.
The order didn't make it into the clinical physician orders until September 4. Six days passed.
During that stretch, someone on the nursing staff called Staff J during the week of September 2 to report there was no as-needed opioid order on file for R#4. Staff J told inspectors she was upset. She said she would have given a verbal order over the weekend if anyone had called her then. Nobody had.
When inspectors interviewed R#4 on October 22, he described those early days in plain terms. His hip pain was unbearable, he said, and he didn't get much help with pain control except Tylenol. Once he got an order for something stronger from the nurse practitioner, the pain improved.
The Director of Nursing acknowledged to inspectors that the oxycodone order should have been transcribed when it was received. He said he was not sure where the breakdown happened but was looking at improving the process.
The facility's own pharmacist, Staff F, said during an interview on October 27 that he had received admission orders from the facility system for a separate resident, R#3, on October 10. He said he would have expected a call from the facility if there were any concerns about medications and noted the facility had access to an emergency medication kit and a 24-hour on-call pharmacy option. He said a concern with the process was evident regarding that admission as well.
The inspection was conducted as a complaint investigation and completed October 27, 2025. Inspectors cited the facility under F0697, the federal tag governing pain management, at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm. A few residents were identified as affected.
The care plan for R#4 had been in place since August 24. It directed staff to administer pain medication per orders and to give it in advance of treatments or care. The nurse practitioner had done her job on August 29, documenting the order in her notes after a direct visit with the patient. What followed was a failure of the steps between that documentation and the pharmacy, steps that left a man with a bone infection rating his pain at the highest point on the scale, waiting.
R#4 said the pain control eventually improved. He didn't say how long it took to feel that way.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation from 2025-10-27 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: June 24, 2026 · Our methodology
Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation in Des Moines, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 27, 2025.
The resident, identified in inspection records as R#4, was admitted to the facility on August 22, 2025.
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.