F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
D

Resident Falls from Bed During Sheet Change

Garden City Healthcare CenterModesto, California Survey Completed on 03-21-2024

Summary

The facility failed to provide a safe environment for a resident when the resident fell from bed while her fitted sheet was being replaced. The resident, who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and morbid obesity, was admitted to the facility in 2007. During the incident, the resident was being given a bed bath and was turned on her side to change the fitted sheet. The resident was holding onto the side rail but let go, resulting in a fall that caused lacerations to her left great toe and right knee, a nosebleed, and a hematoma on her forehead. The CNA involved stated that the resident was on an air mattress, which may have been too soft, and he was unable to prevent the fall when she let go of the rail. A review of the resident's care plan indicated that she required two-person assistance for bed mobility due to her weakness and obesity. The CNA, however, was performing the task alone. The facility's policy and procedure for repositioning residents in bed required staff to check the care plan for specific positioning needs and the number of staff required. Additionally, the facility's fall risk assessment policy emphasized the need to identify and document resident risk factors for falls and establish a resident-centered falls prevention plan. The Director of Nurses confirmed that the CNA should have reviewed the resident's care information, which was accessible through the electronic charting system, to ensure proper assistance was provided.

Penalty

No penalty information released
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The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.

Resources

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See other F0689 citations in Virginia
Unsafe Smoking Practices and Inadequate Fire Safety Controls
J
F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Short Summary

Facility staff allowed unsafe smoking practices by permitting a resident, assessed as an independent smoker with no cognitive impairment, to smoke in a non-designated courtyard lacking ashtrays, fire-safe disposal containers, a fire extinguisher, or a fire blanket, and to extinguish and discard a cigarette into a trash can containing combustible materials during high winds. Staff acknowledged that residents sometimes smoked in this non-designated area and were only redirected when noticed, while the designated smoking courtyard, though equipped with a fireproof disposal can and smoking blanket, contained a fire extinguisher with no inspection tag or documented inspection. These actions and inactions conflicted with the facility’s smoking policy requiring designated outdoor areas and noncombustible ashtrays, leading surveyors to identify immediate jeopardy and substandard quality of care related to accident hazards and smoking safety.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Supervise High-Risk Wanderer and Prevent Non-Consensual Sexual Contact
J
F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Short Summary

A resident with severe cognitive impairment and Wernicke’s encephalopathy, who was fully ambulatory and known to wander and seek exits, repeatedly entered other residents’ rooms, attempted to leave through exit doors, and eloped from an enclosed courtyard through a gate whose alarm had been turned off and was not monitored by staff. Despite a provider order and care plan for a Wander-Guard and elopement precautions, the device was removed and not replaced, and care plan interventions were not implemented or documented. The same resident was later found performing oral sex on another resident and, on a separate occasion, partially undressed on a female resident’s bed, despite lacking capacity to consent; required 1:1 supervision was care planned but not communicated to or followed by staff. Incidents of elopement and sexual contact were not accurately assessed or reported to the state agency, and documentation of elopement risk and abuse investigations was incomplete, leading surveyors to cite Immediate Jeopardy for accidents, hazards, abuse, and neglect.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Provide Adequate Supervision During Incontinence Care Resulting in Fall
D
F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Short Summary

A resident with diabetes, orthostatic hypotension, impaired mobility, and severely impaired cognition (BIMS 5/15) fell from bed to floor while a CNA was providing incontinence care. The resident had a history of intolerance to sitting up, low BP episodes, and resistance to sitting at the edge of the bed, but resistance to care was not included in the care plan. During the incident, the resident resisted care, tried to get out of bed, and slid to the floor, requiring two staff to return her to bed. The DON later stated the CNA should have stopped care when resistance occurred, reminded the resident she needed assistance to get out of bed, ensured safety, and then reapproached, indicating that adequate supervision and assistance were not provided to prevent the fall.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Prevent Multiple Elopements of Cognitively Impaired Residents
J
F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Short Summary

Two residents with moderate cognitive impairment and known wandering risk eloped multiple times without staff knowledge. One resident, with heart failure, gait abnormality, and a history of falls, removed a wander guard bracelet, exited through the main entrance while the receptionist was on break, and was later found in the parking lot with a facial laceration; the same resident later left the therapy gym unsupervised and again exited through the lobby when no staff were monitoring the entrance. Another resident, with metabolic encephalopathy, schizophrenia, PTSD, and a history of wandering to find family, left the building and was first kept within sight in the parking lot, then on a later occasion eloped again and was found at a distant security gate in another resident’s car, with staff unable to state when she was last seen. Observations showed that wander guard alarms were difficult to hear amid noise and that basement exits and loading dock doors were unlocked and unsupervised, allowing access to the outside despite existing elopement policies and use of wander guard devices.

Fine: $32,560
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The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Unsecured Vapes and Illicit Substances in Resident Rooms
E
F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Short Summary

Staff failed to enforce the facility’s smoking and vaping policy by allowing multiple residents to keep vapes and, in at least one case, marijuana in their rooms, rather than securing these items in locked areas as required. Residents with intact cognition and significant medical conditions, including hemiplegia, CKD, cervical spine injury, diabetes with neuropathy, Alzheimer’s disease, and chronic pain, reported possessing and independently charging vapes in their rooms. Staff across disciplines, including CNAs, LPNs, housekeeping, and the SW, repeatedly noticed or were told about marijuana odors and resident vape use, particularly around certain rooms, but these observations were not consistently reported or documented, and care plans and safe smoking assessments often did not reflect actual vape or THC use.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Provide Adequate Supervision During Bedside ADL Care Resulting in Fall and Fractures
G
F0689 F689: Ensure that a nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents.
Short Summary

A dependent, cognitively impaired resident with dementia, depression, and muscle weakness, coded as requiring total assistance for rolling in bed, fell from bed during ADL care when a CNA turned away to rinse a washcloth. At the time of the fall, the bed was not lowered and ordered floor mats were not in place. Staff later documented progressive swelling, bruising, and pain in both lower legs and ankles, and imaging ultimately showed acute fractures of the distal tibia and fibula. Interviews with an LPN, MDS nurse, Rehab Manager, and DON confirmed that the resident was totally dependent, would not follow commands, and should have been safely positioned in the middle of the bed before the CNA turned away, indicating inadequate supervision and failure to follow fall‑prevention measures.

Fine: $15,935
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.

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