Failure to Honor Resident Choice for Storage and Reheating of Outside Food
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to honor residents’ choices regarding storage and reheating of food brought from outside the facility, despite regulatory requirements to promote and facilitate resident self-determination and choice. One resident with acute unspecified protein calorie malnutrition, who was moderately cognitively impaired but independent with eating, reported that she did not like the facility’s food and preferred food from home or local restaurants. She stated that the facility would not allow her to store cooked foods in the refrigerator or have them reheated, and that she had been told such storage was not allowed. Another cognitively intact resident, independent with eating, reported that he previously ordered pizza monthly, ate part of it, and stored the remainder in the refrigerator to be reheated for later meals, but was recently told he could no longer store cooked food or have it reheated, and that staff threw away pizza he had purchased. A third cognitively intact resident with stroke and diabetes stated he did not like the facility’s food and preferred healthy, diabetic foods provided by his family, but was told he could not store cooked foods in the refrigerator or have them reheated, and that personal refrigerators in rooms were not allowed. Surveyors observed a sign on the nourishment room refrigerator stating that no cooked food may be stored and that no stored foods were allowed per facility policy. The Dietary Manager confirmed that the facility’s policy prohibited residents from storing food in the nourishment room refrigerator to prevent potentially hazardous food illnesses, allowing only drinks and nutritional supplements. The RD stated that previously cooked food items could usually be safely stored in the refrigerator for up to three days. The DON stated she expected residents to be allowed to make choices about their food, including storing leftovers for later consumption, while the Administrator confirmed the facility policy not to allow residents to store or reheat food and to discard any cooked foods not eaten within four hours, and that residents were not allowed personal refrigerators in their rooms.
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