Westwood Specialty Care: Infection Control Failures - IA
That was one of four medication pass observations federal inspectors recorded at Westwood Specialty Care on the morning of December 23, 2024. Two nurses. Four residents. Not one medication pass completed without an infection control failure.
The registered nurse, identified in inspection records as Staff B, pulled a guaifenesin tablet from its bottle and set it directly onto the contaminated pill cutter without cleaning the device first. She then applied gloves without first washing her hands, cut the tablet, placed half into the medication cup for Resident 1, and dropped the other half into a sharps container. When she removed the glove, she did not perform hand hygiene. She put the pill cutter back into the medication cart and moved on to the next patient.
Seventeen minutes earlier, a licensed practical nurse identified as Staff A had administered insulin to a resident in a sequence that inspectors documented in granular detail. The nurse applied gloves without first washing her hands. With those gloves on, she cleaned the top of the insulin bottle, drew up the dose, and put the bottle away. Still wearing the same gloves, she reached over and locked the computer screen. Then she walked into the resident's room and injected the insulin. She removed her gloves and washed her hands only after the needle was out.
Between those two observations, Staff A dropped a pantoprazole tablet onto the top of the medication cart. Without performing hand hygiene, she put on a glove, picked the tablet up off the cart surface, and placed it into the medication cup with the other medications before giving them to Resident 4.
Staff B's final observed medication pass that morning introduced a different problem. She brought an inhaler into Resident 7's room and set it directly on the bedside table with no barrier underneath it. After administering the inhaler, she carried it out of the room without wiping it down and put it back in its box in the medication cart.
The facility's own hand hygiene policy, last revised in August 2019, requires staff to clean their hands before and after handling medications, before applying gloves, and after removing them. The medication administration policy requires adherence to infection control procedures. When the regional nurse consultant was interviewed at 10:10 that morning, she said staff should be following infection control measures at all times.
Westwood Specialty Care reported a census of 77 residents at the time of the inspection. Inspectors rated the harm level as minimal or potential for actual harm.
What the inspection captured was not a single lapse or a moment of distraction. It was a pattern across two nurses, four residents, and roughly forty minutes of a routine morning. Gloves applied over unwashed hands. A cart surface treated as a clean field. A shared cutting tool with visible residue, never cleaned between uses, returned to the drawer for the next shift.
The regional nurse consultant's answer, that staff should always follow infection control measures, was accurate. It was also, on the morning of December 23, beside the point.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Westwood Specialty Care from 2025-12-31 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 19, 2026 · Our methodology
Westwood Specialty Care in Sioux City, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on December 31, 2025.
That was one of four medication pass observations federal inspectors recorded at Westwood Specialty Care on the morning of December 23, 2024.
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.