Residents Transported Backwards in Shower Chairs
Summary
The facility failed to ensure staff respected residents’ dignity while transporting residents to and from the shower room for 3 of 4 observed residents. Resident #53 had severe cognitive impairment with a BIMS score of 5, dementia, and required substantial to maximum assistance for bathing and transfers. During observation, the resident sat in a shower chair in the hallway facing away from the shower room and was pulled backwards approximately 8 feet into the shower room by a CNA, who told the resident she could not push him forward because the chair did not have foot pedals. Resident #5 had severe cognitive impairment with a BIMS score of 4, dementia, and anxiety, and was dependent on staff for showering, transfers, and lower body dressing. During two observations, a CNA pulled the resident backwards in a shower chair down the hallway from the resident’s room to the shower room, with the resident facing the opposite direction of travel. In one observation, the resident was unclothed and covered with a sheet, and when the resident shifted in the chair, she exposed herself from the abdomen to the feet. Resident #54 had moderate cognitive impairment with a BIMS score of 10 and diagnoses including left femur fracture, adult failure to thrive, adjustment disorder with depressed mood, and anxiety. The resident required substantial to maximal staff assistance for bathing and transfers. During observation, a CNA transported the resident in a shower chair through the hallway with a bath sheet over the resident’s lap, then turned the chair to enter the shower room, exposing the resident’s unclothed left side from hip to foot. Staff interviews confirmed that one CNA routinely pulled residents backwards in shower chairs, while another CNA stated residents should be pushed in a wheelchair to the shower room and transferred there. The DON stated she had no official direction or expectation for how residents should be transported, while the ADON stated staff should not pull residents backwards and that it was a dignity concern.
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