Failure to Provide Routine Bathing for Dependent Residents
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide routine bathing for two residents who required assistance with activities of daily living. One resident, who was severely cognitively impaired, totally dependent on staff for self-care, and exhibited continuous inattention and disorganized thinking, was care planned to receive showers twice weekly. However, documentation showed that over a 22-day period, this resident received only two baths, and the accuracy of this documentation was confirmed by an LPN. The resident's representative also reported that the facility did not follow through with promised bathing. Another resident, assessed as independent in decision-making and not coded as rejecting care, was care planned to receive showers twice weekly in the morning. The care plan also noted occasional resistance to bathing, with interventions to reassure and reattempt care, and to document refusals. However, records indicated that the resident received only one bed bath during the review period, with no documentation of refusals, despite staff education efforts. There was a lack of further documentation to support that bathing was offered or refused as required.