F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
E

Staff Training Deficiencies for Abuse Reporting and Dementia Care

Merkel Nursing CenterMerkel, Texas Survey Completed on 12-04-2025

Summary

The facility failed to develop, implement, and maintain an effective training program for new and existing staff related to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and dementia management. Record review showed that NA G, hired on 11/6/2025, had no evidence of completing abuse, neglect, and exploitation training or dementia management training upon hire or while working at the facility. The DM, hired on 10/20/2025, had no evidence of completing dementia management training upon hire or while working at the facility. RN C, hired on 9/1/2025, also had no evidence of completing dementia management training upon hire or while working at the facility. During interviews, the ADMN stated new hires were given orientation through a hyperlink and annual training was done through monthly in-services, and later stated he was responsible for ensuring training was completed for all employees. The AIT stated each department head was responsible for ensuring training was completed, or the office manager if the employee was from administration, and said the ADMN and office manager monitored completion. She also stated the abuse, neglect, and exploitation and dementia management training were important to ensure employees were adequately trained to recognize and report abuse, neglect, and exploitation to the facility's abuse coordinator, and said the training was not done due to an oversight by the ADMN. Facility policy required newly hired personnel, volunteers, and transfers to attend a 10-hour orientation program within their first five days of employment and maintain a written record of the orientation program, and the staff development policy listed resident abuse as a mandatory in-service topic.

Penalty

No penalty information released
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The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.

Resources

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See other F0943 citations
Failure to Provide Required Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Training
D
F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Short Summary

Failure to provide required abuse, neglect, and exploitation training was identified for an NA. Facility policy required annual training covering abuse, neglect, exploitation, misappropriation of resident property, reporting procedures, dementia management, and resident abuse prevention. The NA's personnel file did not show the required annual in-service training, and HR confirmed the training had not been provided.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Late Dependent Adult Abuse Training for New RN
D
F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Short Summary

A facility failed to provide required dependent adult abuse training within 6 months of hire for an RN. Record review showed the RN completed the 2-hour mandatory reporter training after the policy deadline, and the Director of Compliance acknowledged the training was late and said the facility had recently changed its process for enrolling new hires in the class right away.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Provide Required Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Training
E
F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Short Summary

Failure to provide required Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation training to five of five direct care staff, including an LPN, three NAs, and an RN. The NHA stated education was tracked by calendar year and that no 2025 training records could be found for the employees reviewed; the HR Director confirmed the training was not provided.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Missing Required Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Training
F
F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Short Summary

Missing Required Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Training: The facility could not provide evidence that 5 CNAs with more than 1 year of service had completed required training on abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The HR Director said HR handled onboarding but not annual training, while the NHA and DOP confirmed there was no evidence of the training and no Staff Development Coordinator or designee maintaining a training schedule or documentation system.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Missing Required Abuse Reporting Training
D
F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Short Summary

The facility failed to ensure that 1 of 5 staff files reviewed had current DAA Mandatory Reporter's Training. A CMA hired in the facility did not have documentation of completing the required 2-hour abuse reporting training within 6 months of hire, and the Interim Administrator stated he had no other employee file documentation and was aware of concerns with the files.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Failure to Provide Required Dementia Training
F
F0943 F943: Give their staff education on dementia care, and what abuse, neglect, and exploitation are; and how to report abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Short Summary

Failure to Provide Required Dementia Training: The facility did not provide required all-staff dementia training, including management of dementia-related behaviors. Staff reported that the last dementia training was completed about two years ago and that no further dementia education had been provided since then. Record review confirmed the last all-staff dementia care training on file, and the facility did not produce a policy for dementia training requirements by the end of the survey.

No penalty information released
tooltip icon
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
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