F0677

D

Failure to Follow Fall, Refusal of Treatment, and Continence Policies for High-Risk Resident

Bakersfield, California Survey Completed on 01-06-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to follow its Fall Management Program, Refusal of Treatment policy, and Continence Management Guideline for a resident with severe cognitive impairment and a history of falls. The resident had diagnoses including generalized muscle weakness, need for assistance with personal care, history of falling, and a prior displaced intertrochanteric fracture of the right femur with surgical intervention. The MDS documented that the resident was wheelchair-bound, totally dependent for toileting hygiene, unable to stand, walk, or transfer to the toilet, and always incontinent of bowel and bladder. The resident’s fall risk evaluation score of 17 indicated a high fall risk, and the care plan identified risk for repeated falls related to deconditioning, gait/balance problems, psychoactive drug use, generalized weakness, prior mechanical fall with right femur fracture, impulsive behavior, and episodes of crawling out of bed, with an intervention to anticipate and meet the resident’s needs.

On the night in question, CNA 1 reported that during the 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. shift, she checked the resident at approximately 3:30 a.m. and observed that the brief’s wetness indicator had changed color, indicating the brief was wet. CNA 1 stated she offered to change the resident’s brief, but the resident refused. Despite this refusal, CNA 1 did not notify the LVN or the charge nurse as required by the facility’s Refusal of Treatment policy, did not seek assistance from another CNA to help with changing the resident, and did not return to re-offer or attempt to change the brief for the next one hour and 45 minutes. CNA 1 also stated that during that entire night shift she changed the resident only once, after the fall, and did not check and change the resident’s brief every two hours as required by the facility’s Continence Management Guideline, explaining that the resident usually refused at night.

At around 5:15 a.m., CNA 1 passed by the resident’s room and saw the resident holding the bed rail with one leg bent on the floor mat; the resident stated she was trying to go to the bathroom to urinate. CNA 1 checked the resident’s brief and found it wet with bowel movement. LVN 1, who was passing medications at that time, was called to the room and observed the resident with most of her hip on the bed and her legs hanging off the bed; LVN 1 and CNA 1 assisted the resident to the ground and then back to bed, and LVN 1 documented that the resident initially had no pain or visible injury. Subsequent imaging on 12/29 showed a periprosthetic distal femur fracture of indeterminate age, and by 12/31 the resident had developed right knee swelling and pain, leading to hospital evaluation where CT imaging confirmed a periprosthetic distal femoral metaphyseal fracture, followed by surgical repair with retrograde intramedullary nailing on 1/3. The facility’s Fall Management Program policy required assisting patients with toileting as appropriate, which was not carried out in accordance with the resident’s identified needs and risk factors.

These failures had the potential to result in Resident 1 falling from trying to go to the bathroom and sustaining right distal femur fracture (broken bone) requiring hospitalization and surgery.