Regency Olympia: Staple Removal Delayed 51 Days - WA
The resident, identified only as Resident 1 in the inspection report, was admitted to Regency Olympia on February 13, 2026, following a right hip fracture. Her transfer orders from that same day included a physician directive: schedule a follow-up appointment with an orthopedic provider for staple removal within two weeks. That appointment was never made.
The staples came out on April 8, 2026. Fifty-one days after admission.
When a state inspector interviewed the resident on April 20, she said she had not been out to see the orthopedic surgeon at any point since arriving at the facility. She said the staples had been in for a long time and that having them removed was painful.
The resident was cognitively intact throughout her stay, according to a formal assessment completed February 20. She knew what was happening to her body. She knew something had been left undone.
The Director of Nursing, a registered nurse identified as Staff B, told the inspector the same morning that the transfer orders simply had not been carried out. "The appointment and staple removal should have been done per the physician's transfer orders," Staff B said, describing what happened as an oversight.
The administrator, identified as Staff A, was interviewed four days later on the morning of April 24. She said she would expect admission and transfer orders to be completed as instructed.
Neither offered an explanation for how a written physician order, present in the chart from the day of admission, went unaddressed for seven and a half weeks.
Surgical staples are not meant to stay in indefinitely. They hold wound edges together while tissue heals in the days and weeks after surgery. Leaving them in significantly longer than ordered creates risk of infection, skin breakdown, and pain, and it requires a patient to endure a procedure that grows more uncomfortable the longer it is delayed. The resident said as much herself.
The inspection was conducted as a complaint investigation. State inspectors cited the facility for failing to provide treatment and care in accordance with professional standards of practice, a finding that affected one of three residents reviewed. The level of harm was classified as minimal harm or potential for actual harm.
That classification captures the regulatory category. It does not capture what the resident described: weeks of waiting, a painful removal, and the quiet knowledge that a doctor's order written on the day she arrived had been sitting somewhere in her chart, unread or unacted on, while she went about her days in a nursing home bed.
Regency Olympia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is located in Olympia, Washington.
The physician had been clear. Two weeks. The facility had the order in writing from February 13. The staples came out April 8.
Nobody scheduled the appointment.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Regency Olympia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center from 2026-04-24 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
REGENCY OLYMPIA REHABILITATION AND NURSING CENTER in OLYMPIA, WA was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 24, 2026.
The resident, identified only as Resident 1 in the inspection report, was admitted to Regency Olympia on February 13, 2026, following a right hip fracture.
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.