Failure to Provide Adequate Grooming and Hygiene Assistance
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide adequate grooming and hygiene services for four residents who required assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), specifically grooming and bathing. Clinical record reviews indicated that these residents had significant medical conditions such as paraplegia, congestive heart failure, dementia, polyneuropathy, muscle wasting, diabetes with neuropathy, and hemiplegia due to stroke, all of which necessitated staff support for personal care. Despite care plans outlining the need for assistance, observations on multiple dates revealed that these residents consistently had long and dirty fingernails, and in some cases, were unshaven. Residents who were able to communicate confirmed their need for nail trimming and shaving, while non-verbal residents indicated agreement through gestures. Staff interviews and documentation confirmed that grooming tasks, such as nail trimming and shaving, were not performed as required. The administrator acknowledged that these services should have been provided during bathing and as needed. The repeated observations over several days demonstrated a pattern of inaction in maintaining residents' grooming and hygiene, directly contradicting the care plans and residents' expressed or indicated needs.