Improper Glove Use and Hand Hygiene During Meal Service
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified a deficiency in food preparation and service sanitation when observing the noon meal service for a census of 22 residents from the facility’s main kitchen. During the meal, a dietary staff member wearing gloves plated food by removing the lid from a roasting pan and using utensils to serve meat, potatoes, and spinach, then used the same gloved hand to pick up a roll and continued plating. While still wearing the same gloves, she touched her face and glasses and then resumed the plating process without removing the gloves or washing her hands. In a subsequent interview, the dietary staff member stated she had been trained to serve in that manner and typically changed her gloves about three times during the process. The facility’s written hand hygiene policy for food handlers requires that hands always be washed in designated handwashing sinks, that gloves be worn when serving residents on transmission-based precautions or when touching ready-to-eat food, and that staff perform handwashing prior to distributing meals.
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