Failure to Administer Enteral Feeding as Ordered
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to maintain acceptable parameters of nutritional status for a resident who required enteral feeding via a gastrostomy tube. The resident, a male with diagnoses including dysphagia, gastrostomy hemorrhage, and muscle wasting, had physician orders for Nutren 2.0 to be administered through his PEG tube with specified flushes. The comprehensive care plan identified risks such as aspiration, weight loss, and dehydration, and included interventions to administer tube feeding as ordered. However, on a specified date, the resident did not receive his scheduled feeding, as confirmed by his own report and subsequent staff interviews. Interviews with nursing staff and facility leadership confirmed that it was the nurse's responsibility to administer the enteral feeding as ordered and that failure to do so could result in weight loss and other complications. The facility's policy assigned responsibility for tube feeding administration to the nursing service department. The deficiency was identified through record review and interviews, which established that the resident's enteral feeding was not administered according to physician orders on the specified date.