Failure to Provide Dignified Dining Assistance in Memory Care
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure a dignified dining experience for three residents on the memory care unit who required staff assistance with eating. All three residents had dementia, severely impaired cognition per their MDS assessments, and were on puree diets; two were documented as dependent on staff for eating, and one required staff assistance. During a lunch meal observation in the memory care dining room, the three residents were seated at the same table with their meal trays in front of them while a CNA provided eating assistance. Surveyors observed that the CNA stood while assisting all three residents with eating rather than sitting at eye level as required by the facility’s “Resident Dignity and Feeding Practices” policy. In interview, the CNA confirmed she was standing and acknowledged she should sit beside residents when assisting with eating, explaining she stood because she could not reach all three residents if seated. The DON also confirmed that the CNA should have been seated while providing eating assistance and stated that standing over residents during feeding was a resident dignity concern, consistent with the facility’s policy that staff should sit at eye level with residents during feeding.
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