Failure to Verify Nurse Aide Competency in Resident Care Skills
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that nurse aide staff possessed and demonstrated the specific competencies and skill sets required for safe resident care, particularly regarding transfer techniques. Documentation review for three nurse aides showed that while staff completed and signed off on various competency worksheets and attended in-service education, there was no evidence that the facility evaluated their knowledge or skills through return demonstrations or direct observation. In one case, a nurse aide's record lacked the required CNA Competencies worksheet, and in another, the documentation did not include attestation by another staff member confirming the aide's demonstration of skills. For a newly hired aide, orientation records indicated only acknowledgment of training topics, without any verification of competency through demonstration. Interviews with the LPN responsible for nurse aide competency training revealed that the process consisted of providing information packets and obtaining staff signatures to confirm they had read the material. There were no return demonstrations or practical evaluations to verify competency in physical skills for any nurse aide. This approach was confirmed to be standard practice for all nurse aides employed by the facility, as discussed with the Nursing Home Administrator and the Director of Nursing.