Untimely Call Light Responses Lead to Delayed Assistance With Care Needs
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to meet its own policy requirement that resident call lights be answered as soon as possible and no later than five minutes. The facility’s Call System, Residents policy dated September 2022 states that each resident is provided a means to call staff for assistance and that calls should be answered promptly, with urgent requests addressed immediately. During interviews on 3/11/26, a cognitively intact resident with chronic kidney disease, severe protein calorie malnutrition, adult failure to thrive, rheumatoid arthritis, malaise, and a Stage II sacral pressure ulcer reported often waiting over an hour for staff to respond to her call light. This resident, who has upper and lower extremity impairments and requires maximal assistance for personal/toilet hygiene and transfers, stated she knows when she needs to use the bathroom but must wait for staff to transfer her, and that the delays sometimes result in her urinating in her incontinence brief, which makes her feel terrible. Another cognitively intact resident, diagnosed with Type II diabetes, muscle weakness, anxiety, and major depression, and requiring supervision and touching assistance for personal/toilet hygiene and transfers, stated it often takes staff over an hour to answer her roommate’s call light and that she feels badly because she knows it bothers her roommate when she has an accident. A third cognitively intact resident with COPD, lymphedema, obesity, and peripheral vascular disease, who uses a cane and requires supervision and touching assistance for personal/toilet hygiene and transfers, reported that it often takes staff over a half hour to answer call lights, especially on night shift. Two CNAs stated that residents frequently complain about long call light wait times and reported there is not enough CNA staff on evening and night shifts, resulting in residents waiting extremely long for assistance and their needs not being met timely. The Administrator confirmed that the resident who uses the call light for toileting knows when she needs to use the bathroom and that staff should respond to call lights quickly and within a reasonable time frame, and acknowledged that not answering call lights in a timely manner can negatively affect resident care.
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