Failure to Secure Smoking Materials for Independent Smoker
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that the environment remained free from accident hazards and that adequate supervision was provided to prevent accidents for a resident who smoked independently. Observation revealed that a lighter was left unattended on the resident's bedside table, contrary to the facility's policy and the resident's care plan, which required all lighters and smoking materials to be kept with facility staff for safety. The resident was cognitively intact and assessed as safe to smoke unsupervised, but the care plan specifically stated that smoking materials must be returned to the nurse's station after use and not kept on the resident's person. The facility's smoking policy required that incendiary devices and smoking materials be stored by staff and not be in the possession of residents. Despite this, the resident was found with a lighter in his room, and the DON acknowledged the oversight, noting that the resident often went out on pass alone and was considered an independent smoker. The failure to follow established procedures for the storage of smoking materials created a situation where the resident environment was not as free from accident hazards as possible.