Failure to Knock Before Entering Resident Room Violates Privacy Policy
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves a failure to maintain resident privacy and confidentiality when staff did not knock before entering a resident’s room, contrary to facility policy and resident rights. Resident #16, who had intact cognition and multiple medical diagnoses including respiratory failure, COPD, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, lymphedema, and gout, had been admitted to the facility prior to the survey. During an observation and interview on 01/17/26 at 10:12 A.M., Maintenance #106 opened Resident #16’s room door without knocking while conducting fire watch rounds and confirmed at that time that she had not knocked before entering. Review of the facility’s “Ohio Resident Rights and Facility Responsibilities” policy showed that residents have the right, upon reasonable request, to have room doors closed and not opened without knocking, except in emergencies or when not medically advisable as documented by the attending physician, conditions which were not documented for this resident. This failure to knock prior to entering the resident’s room constituted a breach of the facility’s own policy and the resident’s right to privacy, affecting one resident reviewed for privacy out of three sampled.
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