Failure to Accommodate Resident Food Preferences Due to Loss of Dietary Tracking System
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide meals that accommodated resident food preferences, as evidenced by a cognitively intact resident with chronic kidney disease, gout, and type 2 diabetes mellitus receiving a meal containing corn, which he had repeatedly stated he disliked. The resident's care plan included interventions to provide meals based on his food preferences and physician orders, and his diet order specified a two gram low sodium diet with double protein/meat portions. Despite these documented preferences and orders, the resident was served corn and did not eat it, stating he had informed staff multiple times of his dislike for corn. Interviews with dietary staff revealed that the facility recently lost access to a software system that tracked residents' food likes and dislikes, resulting in the inability to provide alternate food items for residents' documented dislikes. The dietary manager confirmed that since the removal of the previous system, there was no way to retrieve or reference residents' food preferences, and no likes or dislikes were available for any residents in the new system. This failure had the potential to affect the majority of residents receiving food from the kitchen.