Failure to Prevent Staff Accused of Abuse from Resident Contact
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to prevent a staff member who was alleged to have potentially abused a resident from having contact with other residents. The incident involved a resident with intact cognition and several medical diagnoses, who became involved in a confrontation with a housekeeper. The resident reported that the housekeeper insisted on cleaning the room and turning on the lights despite the resident's wishes, leading to a physical interaction where the resident reached over the staff member to turn off the light and the staff member raised her hands. Both parties acknowledged physical contact, but no injuries were observed or reported. Following the incident, the nurse on duty was paged and responded to the resident's room, assessed the situation, and provided emotional support. The housekeeper was directed to leave the resident's room but was not removed from the facility or prevented from entering other resident rooms. The housekeeper continued to clean approximately 18 other rooms, most of which were occupied by residents, without supervision or restriction. Interviews with staff confirmed that while the staff member was separated from the resident involved in the incident, she was not separated from other residents as required by facility policy. The policy mandates that any employee accused of abuse should be immediately separated from all residents to prevent further potential abuse while an investigation is conducted. The failure to implement this policy resulted in the staff member having unsupervised access to other residents after the allegation was made.