Failure to Maintain Sanitary Conditions in Resident's Personal Refrigerator
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to maintain safe and sanitary storage of a resident's food items in accordance with its own policy. Observation of a personal refrigerator in a resident's room revealed thick ice buildup, red-tinged ice in the drip tray, and an unidentifiable plastic container with a green substance frozen into the ice. The refrigerator was not clean or defrosted, and the food items inside were unidentifiable. The resident, who was cognitively intact and required setup or clean-up assistance with eating, stated that he would not eat anything from the refrigerator and acknowledged it needed cleaning and defrosting. Interviews with facility staff, including the DON, housekeeping supervisor, and administrator, confirmed that housekeeping was responsible for cleaning and monitoring the cleanliness and temperature of personal refrigerators. The housekeeping supervisor indicated that refrigerators were supposed to be cleaned at least weekly, and there was no indication that the resident had refused cleaning. The facility's policy specified that housekeeping was responsible for checking the temperature and cleanliness of residents' refrigerators, but this was not followed in this instance.