Failure to Timely Assess, Document, and Investigate Resident Fall
Penalty
Summary
A resident with hemiplegia, hemiparesis, and severely impaired cognition required partial to moderate assistance for shower transfers. During a shower, a CNA attempted to transfer the resident alone, despite the resident indicating she needed help. The resident subsequently fell to the floor on her knees and toes. The incident was not documented by the day shift staff at the time of the fall, and there was no immediate assessment or documentation of the event. The fall was only reported later during the midnight shift when the resident self-reported the incident and complained of pain in both lower extremities. An LPN documented the resident's account and provided pain medication, and a STAT x-ray was ordered. However, there was no documentation of a timely assessment or notification of management, the physician, or the resident's responsible party at the time of the fall, as required by facility policy. Further review revealed that the incident report was completed after the fact, and there was no documented investigation to determine the root cause of the fall. The post-fall assessment was initiated but left incomplete and not locked. The DON confirmed that there was no additional documented investigation and could not recall which staff were involved in the transfer or in assisting the resident after the fall. Facility policy required immediate assessment, documentation, and investigation, none of which were completed in a timely manner for this incident.
Plan Of Correction
Resident # 303 is currently not in the facility (unrelated to this citation). Resident 303's root cause for the incident was identified post-incident. The resident was assessed with orders for x-rays of her knee, ankle, hips, and back related to pain. No abnormal findings were identified. The resident's care plan was updated to have 2-person assistance with transfers. CNA no longer employed at the facility. Nurse Tyonna Hayes-King was provided 1:1 education on the Fall Management policy, with emphasis on what is considered an incident, timely assessment of a resident post-fall with investigation to determine root cause analysis, and reporting/documentation of all incident/accidents to the Director of Nursing. All residents have the potential to be affected by the deficient practice. An audit was conducted of all resident incident/accidents from the past 90 days to ensure all residents with incident/accidents were assessed, investigation completed to determine root cause analysis, and documentation, and care plans updated in the resident medical record. The DON/designee spoke with all residents who were able to be interviewed for any incident/accident/falls that have not been reported. None were identified. The DON/designee will review all incident/accidents from the previous day/weekend during daily clinical meetings to ensure residents with incident/accidents have been assessed timely after a fall, and investigation is completed to determine root cause analysis. The DON/unit managers will provide focused oversight during daily rounds on the units and provide educational opportunities and reminders to staff who provide care to residents to ensure any incidents that occur while providing care are immediately reported for investigation. This will include random interviews with residents while rounding daily. By 5/21/2025, licensed nurses and certified nursing assistants will be educated on the Best Practice Fall Management policy with emphasis on what is considered a fall (examples of residents being lowered to the floor), head-to-toe assessments of residents in a timely manner, investigations to determine root cause analysis, and reporting of incident/accidents. The DON/designee will audit all risk management reports weekly for 4 weeks and then monthly for 3 months or until substantial compliance has been maintained to ensure that nurses are following the policy for risk management and falls, with emphasis on assessing residents in a timely manner and investigation to determine root cause analysis for falls. The results of the audits will be presented to the QAA committee for review and consideration of further corrective actions. The DON will be responsible for assuring substantial compliance is attained through this plan of correction by 6/2/2025 and for sustained compliance thereafter.