Failure to Provide Privacy During Wound Care Procedure
Penalty
Summary
During a wound care procedure for a resident admitted with congestive heart failure and morbid obesity, two nurses assisted the resident in removing her incontinence brief and turning her on her side. This action resulted in the resident being exposed from her upper back to her ankles. The resident was cognitively intact and shared the room with another resident, who was present and able to see the exposed areas during the procedure. The privacy curtain between the two beds was not pulled prior to the start of the wound care, contrary to the facility's Clean Dressing Change policy, which requires privacy to be provided before beginning such procedures. The oversight was only addressed after a surveyor inquired about the curtain, at which point the nurse confirmed that the curtain should have been used to provide privacy.