Failure to Address and Monitor Resident's Ingestion of Non-Food Items Resulting in Immediate Jeopardy
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to protect a resident's right to be free from neglect by not providing the necessary structure and processes to meet her care needs, specifically regarding her known behavior of ingesting non-food items. The resident was admitted from a behavioral health hospital with a documented history of eating non-food items, including objects large enough to pose suffocation hazards. Despite this, the facility did not develop a person-centered care plan to address or monitor for these behaviors, and staff were not made aware of her behavioral history. Multiple staff members, including nurses, therapists, and the psychologist, confirmed they were unaware of the resident's history of ingesting non-food items, and this information was not discussed in care plan or interdisciplinary team meetings. The resident began to complain of difficulty swallowing, sore throat, and chest pain over an eight-day period, but was not transferred to the hospital until her husband intervened. During this time, her complaints were documented in progress notes, and she experienced significant weight loss. A CT scan performed months earlier had revealed foreign bodies in her stomach, but this finding was not followed up or addressed in her care plan. The medical director and attending physician both acknowledged that the presence of foreign bodies should have triggered evaluation and monitoring, but no such actions were taken. The lack of communication and follow-up on critical medical information contributed to the failure to provide appropriate supervision and a safe environment for the resident. Upon eventual transfer to the hospital, multiple non-food items were found in the resident's digestive tract, including a spoon, straws, a toothbrush, and other objects, resulting in severe injury and ultimately her death. Interviews with facility staff revealed systemic failures in reviewing and communicating behavioral and medical histories during admission and ongoing care. The facility's policies required identification, assessment, care planning, and monitoring of residents with behaviors that could lead to neglect, but these were not implemented for this resident, leading to Immediate Jeopardy and substandard quality of care.
Removal Plan
- Staff who were not available during the training will be trained before being allowed to work.
- Staff must attain a 100% score on training and be retrained by the DON, VP of Clinical Services, SDC, or Unit Manager if the score is less than 100%.
- The DON, VP of Clinical Services, SDC, and Unit Manager reviewed the current residents' assessed history of pertinent/related behaviors.
- All potential admissions/patient referrals were reviewed by the admission director, DON/Unit Manager/MDS Nurse prior to admission to the facility.
- If any relevant behavior is identified, a care plan will be developed upon admission to address the behavior identified.
- The DON will follow-up pertinent radiology results within 24 hours. In the absence of the DON, the ADON will follow-up radiology results.
- Radiology results will be relayed to the attending physician; a care plan will be developed to address the radiology results as needed.
- The DON conducted a huddle meeting with the nursing staff to identify any resident who may have similar behavior like Resident #2.
- The clinical leadership team completed a screening of all residents for aggressive behavior and screening for risk for abuse of all residents.
- Identified concerns from the completed screenings were care planned by the clinical leadership team.
- The DON, UM, SSD, and SDC conducted resident abuse interviews or skin assessments. Residents who are able to participate were interviewed to ensure that they feel safe in the facility. The results of the interviews will be documented in the Resident Abuse Interview. Residents unable to participate due to cognitive deficit were assessed by nurses to identify signs of abuse/neglect.
- Ad-Hoc QAPI meeting was completed with the leadership team to discuss the incident and systemic changes to prevent recurrence.
- Review of potential admissions (referrals) by the admission staff, DON or her designee prior to admissions.
- Development of care plan upon admission to address any identified risk from review of documents, such as hospital records and other documents which provided information about the potential admissions medical and psychiatric history.
- Care plan review of all current residents to ensure that any identified behaviors are addressed with person-centered interventions.
- The DON will review the clinical huddle meeting records daily to identify any concern related to resident's behavior to ensure that the behaviors are care planned with person-centered interventions.
- The clinical leadership team reviewed all care plans of current residents to ensure that all behaviors are care planned with person-centered interventions.