Greater Southside Health and Rehab: Pain Med Failures - IA
He wasn't wrong to expect more. His nurse practitioner had already ordered it.
On August 29, 2025, Nurse Practitioner Staff J visited the resident, identified in inspection records as Resident 4, and documented that he reported pain at 10 out of 10. She reordered Oxycodone 5 milligrams every six hours as needed and recorded it in her notes. The order never made it into the clinical physician orders. It sat there, documented and ignored, for nearly a week.
A nurse finally called Staff J during the week of September 2 to report there was no as-needed oxycodone order on file. Staff J told inspectors she was upset no one had called her over the weekend. She said she would have given a verbal order immediately.
The oxycodone order wasn't officially entered into clinical records until September 4, six days after Staff J wrote it.
Resident 4, who had intact cognition and could describe exactly what he experienced, told inspectors during an interview on October 22 that once he finally got the stronger pain medication, things improved. His care plan, initiated two days after his August 22 admission, had directed staff to administer pain medication half an hour before treatments or care. He had acute osteomyelitis, inflammation of the bone, in his right ankle and foot, along with pain in both knees.
The Director of Nursing acknowledged to inspectors that the oxycodone order should have been transcribed when it was received. He said he wasn't sure where the breakdown happened.
A pharmacist connected to the facility told inspectors the pharmacy had a 24-hour on-call option and an emergency medication kit available. No one had called.
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.
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 23, 2026 · Our methodology
Greater Southside Health and Rehabilitation in Des Moines, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 27, 2025.
He wasn't wrong to expect more.
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.