Failure to Provide Daily G-Tube Site Care and Dressing Change
Penalty
Summary
A deficiency was identified when a resident with a gastrostomy (G) tube did not receive daily dressing changes and skin care as required by their care plan and physician orders. Observation revealed that the G-tube dressing in place was dated four days prior, and this was confirmed by an LPN. The resident's care plan specified daily and as-needed skin care to the insertion site, and the physician order directed that the site be cleansed and a dry split gauze dressing applied every night after midnight. Facility policy also required documentation of the procedure in the resident's medical record, including the date and time. Despite these directives, the required daily care and documentation were not provided for this resident, who required tube feeding due to oropharyngeal dysphagia following a cerebrovascular accident.