Delayed Call Light Responses Impact Resident Dignity
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure timely responses to residents' requests for assistance, specifically for one resident who experienced significant delays in call light responses. The facility's policy on resident rights emphasizes the importance of treating residents with respect, kindness, and dignity, yet this was not upheld as evidenced by the delayed response times. During an interview, the resident expressed feelings of unfair treatment due to the frequent long waits for assistance, which were documented in the call light logs. The resident, who was admitted with multiple diagnoses including depression, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was capable of making her own decisions as indicated by her BIMS score. Despite this, the call light logs revealed 54 instances where the response time exceeded 20 minutes, with the longest wait time being one hour on several occasions. The Director of Staff Development acknowledged that staff are expected to answer call lights promptly, yet the logs indicated a pattern of delayed responses, contributing to the resident's feelings of neglect.
Plan Of Correction
What corrective action(s) will be accomplished for those residents found to have been affected by the deficient practice? Resident #1 call lights will be responded to timely. How the facility will identify other residents having the same potential to be affected by the same deficient practice and what corrective action will be taken? All residents could be affected by this practice. Facility QA committee to meet to review call light logs for any patterns/units/shifts where longer call light times may be occurring and conduct a Root Cause Analysis for overall improvement in meeting timely call light times. What measures will be put into place or what systematic changes will you make to ensure that the deficient practice does not recur? DSD inserviced all staff on answering call lights in a timely manner. Including turning off call light when responding to needs, reactivating call light if more assistance is required by resident. Often call lights are forgotten to be deactivated until after all cares are delivered. How the facility plans to monitor its performance to make sure that the solutions are sustained. DSD will run call light report to ensure lights are being answered in a timely manner weekly x4 weeks, then monthly x90 days.