Failure to Provide Dignified Dining Assistance in Hallway
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide a dignified dining experience for a dependent resident when a Speech Therapist (ST) assisted with a meal while standing in a hallway. The resident, admitted with diagnoses including malnutrition and feeding difficulty, had a significant change MDS showing severe cognitive impairment and a need for partial/moderate staff assistance with eating. During a continuous observation of a lunch meal, the resident was seated in a wheelchair in the hall directly across from the nurse’s station with his meal tray on an overbed table. The ST stood on the resident’s right side and provided bites of food while three empty chairs were observed behind the nurse’s station. In a subsequent interview, the ST confirmed she fed the resident in the hallway and remained standing the entire time, stating she did not see any available chairs and that the resident usually ate in the dining room but was in the hallway that day due to a flu/COVID-19 outbreak. The DON stated she expected staff to be seated when feeding residents and believed feeding in the hallway was safer than in resident rooms because more staff were available if an emergency occurred. The Administrator stated he expected residents to be fed in a respectful manner and for staff to be seated when feeding residents. The reasonable person concept was applied, as individuals might feel a lack of dignity when assisted with eating in a hallway and when staff stand over them.
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