Delayed Response to Call Lights for Incontinent and Dependent Residents
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure residents’ call lights were answered promptly, as required by resident care plans and the facility’s “Answering the Call Light” policy. Multiple cognitively intact residents with bowel and bladder incontinence or dependence on staff for toileting reported extended waits after activating call lights. One resident, occasionally incontinent of bowel and bladder, stated that it sometimes took a long time for staff to answer his call light and recalled waiting an hour and a half on one occasion. Another resident, dependent on staff for toileting and frequently incontinent of bowel and occasionally incontinent of bladder, had a roommate who reported that staff took about an hour to respond to the call light after the resident had soiled himself, with the CNA explaining that only four CNAs were working at the time. Additional residents with incontinence and dependence on staff for toileting also reported long waits for call light responses. One resident, always incontinent of bowel and bladder, stated that there were not enough staff and that they had to wait a long time for call lights to be answered. Another resident, always incontinent of bladder and bowel, reported having to wait 30 to 45 minutes for care when staffing was low. CNAs interviewed confirmed that call lights were not always answered timely, particularly on the 2 pm to 10 pm shift when only four CNAs were working and they were simultaneously responsible for getting residents ready for supper and answering call lights. An anonymous staff member stated that call lights were answered as timely as possible but acknowledged delays when many residents required two-person assistance and nurses were occupied with medication passes. The Assistant DON and the Administrator both acknowledged that call lights were not always answered timely, although they believed there had been some improvement.
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