F0689

G

Failure to Supervise Wandering Resident Leads to Resident-to-Resident Altercation and Injury

Gulfport, Florida Survey Completed on 03-25-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide adequate supervision and prevent resident-to-resident altercation, resulting in injury to a severely cognitively impaired resident. One resident (Resident #5) had a diagnosis that included unspecified dementia without behavioral disturbance, psychotic disturbance, mood disturbance and anxiety, encephalopathy, difficulty in walking, and a cognitive communication deficit, with a BIMS score of 0 indicating severe cognitive impairment. This resident was able to self-propel in a wheelchair, wore a wanderguard, and was known by staff to wander, enter other residents’ rooms, and rummage through their belongings. Another resident (Resident #6), cognitively intact with a BIMS score of 14, had multiple medical diagnoses including chronic pain syndrome, neuromuscular dysfunction of bladder, idiopathic progressive neuropathy, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerotic heart disease.

On the day of the incident, video footage showed Resident #5 in his wheelchair near the exit doors outside Resident #6’s room, touching the wall, and then self-propelling into Resident #6’s room. Approximately ten minutes later, Resident #6 returned to his room in a motorized wheelchair and entered, with the door closing to leave about a one-foot opening. A short time later, Resident #5 exited the room in his wheelchair with a visible stream of blood from his eye down his cheek to his mouth and wearing two different shoes. Staff B, an LPN, was then seen approaching the area and entering a room across from Resident #6’s room before leaving the camera’s view toward the nurses’ station, and Resident #6 later exited his room without visible blood on his person.

Progress notes documented that staff observed an altercation between two residents on the hall after one resident was found in another resident’s room touching property and putting on the other resident’s shoes. Verbal escalation occurred, followed by punches being thrown by both residents. Resident #5 was later documented as crying and stating he was “punching and punching,” and was found with injuries including a left eyebrow cut, a left temple hematoma, and an abrasion below the left temple. Staff interviews confirmed that Resident #5 frequently went into other residents’ rooms, did not know where his own room was, and required redirection, although CNAs reported they did not document these room entries. The MDS coordinator confirmed a behavior care plan for wandering into other residents’ rooms had been initiated, and the care plan included interventions such as documenting behaviors, diverting attention, and removing the resident from situations as needed. However, the DON and Nursing Home Administrator stated they were unaware of Resident #5’s behavior of entering other residents’ rooms until after this event, despite the facility’s Abuse Prevention Program policy stating that leadership will identify residents with needs or behaviors that might lead to conflict or abuse/neglect.

Additional observations and interviews further illustrated the ongoing wandering behavior and lack of effective supervision. On the survey date, Resident #5 was observed in the dining room with a speech therapist, with visible bruising on the left outer eye area, and the speech therapist described him as oriented only to self, not knowing where his room was, and spending much of the day looking for it. During an interview with an LPN, Resident #5 was again observed at the end of the hall next to the exit doors outside Resident #6’s room, requiring the nurse to run down the hall and redirect him back toward the nurses’ station. CNAs reported that Resident #5 had been going into other residents’ rooms since admission and that they redirected him when observed, but did not document these behaviors. These documented patterns of wandering into other residents’ rooms, combined with the facility leadership’s lack of awareness of the behavior and the unwitnessed altercation that resulted in injury, demonstrate the facility’s failure to ensure adequate supervision and to prevent resident-to-resident altercation as required by its own policies and regulatory standards.

The facility’s Abuse Prevention Program policy, last revised in 03/2022, stated that leadership would identify situations in which abuse, neglect, mistreatment, exploitation, or misappropriation may be more likely to occur, including residents with needs or behaviors that might lead to conflict or abuse/neglect. Despite this, the DON and NHA reported they were not aware of Resident #5’s behavior of entering other residents’ rooms, even though multiple staff members, including CNAs and the MDS coordinator, acknowledged this behavior and a behavior care plan had been initiated. The lack of consistent documentation and communication about Resident #5’s wandering and room-entry behavior, combined with the absence of effective supervision to prevent him from entering Resident #6’s room and the subsequent altercation, led directly to the resident-to-resident incident and injuries that formed the basis of the cited deficiency.