Failure to Follow Hand Hygiene and Maintain Current IPCP Policies
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to adhere to infection prevention and control practices during food service and in the management of infection control policies. Based on observation, staff did not remove soiled gloves, perform hand hygiene, and don clean gloves before continuing to serve food to residents, contrary to the facility’s undated Hand Washing policy that required dietary staff to wash hands before starting work and when hands were soiled. This practice had the potential to contaminate served food items and make residents ill. In addition, the facility failed to ensure current infection control standards of practice were implemented by not conducting at least an annual review of Infection Prevention and Control Program (IPCP) policies and procedures. During an interview, the Infection Preventionist (IP) presented IPCP policies that had no review or revision dates, and the facility could not provide documentation that these policies had been reviewed annually. The IP acknowledged that the IPCP policies had not been reviewed or revised annually and stated there were many such policies. The Director of Nursing Services (DNS) also confirmed that the IPCP policies had not been reviewed annually and that they should have been, placing all residents at risk for contamination or infections.
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