Failure to Accommodate Resident Bathing Preferences
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to honor and facilitate a resident's preference for showering/bathing days, as required by regulations supporting resident self-determination and choice. The resident, who was cognitively intact and required substantial to maximal assistance for bathing, expressed a clear preference to receive showers or baths on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Despite communicating this preference upon admission and being assured it could be accommodated, the resident routinely received showers or baths only on Tuesdays and Fridays, and occasionally on a Saturday, as documented in the treatment administration record. The resident reported rarely receiving showers or baths three times per week as preferred. Review of the resident's care plan revealed it lacked documentation of personal preferences for showering or bathing, containing only information related to a potential nutritional deficit. Interviews with facility staff, including a CNA and the ADON, indicated uncertainty about who was responsible for documenting resident preferences, especially following a change in leadership. The ADON confirmed that the baseline care plan should have included the resident's showering/bathing preferences, but this was not done, and a comprehensive care plan was not in place for the resident. Facility policy requires that a baseline care plan addressing immediate needs, including preferences, be developed upon admission.