Failure to Ensure Privacy and Confidentiality During Assessments, Personal Care, and Health Information Discussions
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to maintain resident privacy and confidentiality during medical assessments and personal care for multiple residents in common areas. On several occasions, a Physician Assistant (PA) conducted physical assessments in public spaces without obtaining permission or offering privacy. The PA pulled aside the collar of a sleeping resident’s shirt in a common area to assess shoulder bruising, and later repeated this with the same resident without waking her or requesting consent. The PA also assessed another resident’s pain, pulse, and physical condition in the main activity room in the presence of other residents, and examined another resident’s leg for a suspected rash by pulling up the pant leg and palpating the skin in the activity room with six other residents present. In a separate instance, the PA evaluated a resident in the dining room for increased weight and lower extremity swelling by palpating the lower legs, examining the feet, and auscultating the chest and back with a stethoscope while seven other residents and two visitors were present. Additional privacy breaches involved personal care and discussion of health information in public areas. A CNA provided personal care to a resident in the main activity room by wiping food and drool from the resident’s sleeves, face, and hands, then removing the resident’s sweater in a way that pulled up the back of her shirt and exposed the sides of her breast and briefs in view of others. In the dining room, an LPN and a CNA discussed resident weights in the presence of multiple residents, including verbally referencing “the weight on the new guy,” thereby disclosing resident health information without privacy. The facility’s own “Resident Rights” policy, dated 5/20/2020, states that residents are guaranteed rights including privacy and confidentiality, which were not upheld in these observed situations.
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