Failure to Serve Tablemates Their Meals at the Same Time, Affecting Resident Dignity
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure that residents seated at the same dining table were served and assisted with their meals at the same time, affecting two residents reviewed for dignity in dining. One resident, identified as having short- and long-term memory problems and coded as dependent with eating on a significant change MDS, was observed seated in a reclined geri-chair at a dining table with her uneaten lunch tray in front of her while a CNA fed her tablemate. From 12:52 PM to 1:15 PM, the CNA continued feeding the tablemate while the dependent resident received no assistance with her meal. Only after the tablemate finished eating and was assisted out of the dining room did the CNA begin feeding the dependent resident at 1:17 PM, completing the feeding at 1:34 PM. The CNA confirmed that the dependent resident was served and assisted with her meal only after her tablemate had finished and left the dining room. A second resident, also documented on a quarterly MDS as having short- and long-term memory problems, was similarly affected on another day. This resident was seated in a reclined geri-chair next to the dining table without having been served a lunch meal, while staff fed the resident’s tablemate. From 12:35 PM to 12:45 PM, staff continued feeding the tablemate as the second resident remained without a meal and watched staff feed the tablemate. After staff finished feeding the tablemate and assisted her from the dining room at 12:47 PM, the second resident did not receive her lunch tray until 1:07 PM. The 400-hall unit manager (an LPN) confirmed that this resident was served later than her tablemate and explained that a second meal cart for the hallway arrived late due to a mix-up in the kitchen that was not communicated to hall staff. The Dietary Manager and the DON both acknowledged that residents seated at the same table should be served at the same time to promote dignity.
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