Failure to Respond Timely to Call Lights Resulting in Dignity Concerns
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide timely toileting assistance and call light response for a resident, resulting in a dignity concern. The resident had diagnoses including unspecified focal traumatic brain injury, seizures, major depressive disorder, and morbid obesity, and reported being aware of the need to have a bowel movement and using the push-button call light system to request transfer to the toilet or a commode. The resident stated that at times he waited an hour or more for staff to answer his call light, which resulted in episodes of incontinence. He reported feeling upset, frustrated, "like a little kid," and embarrassed when this occurred. Review of the resident’s call light logs showed multiple instances of significantly delayed responses, including unanswered call lights for 42 minutes and 42 seconds, 57 minutes and 59 seconds, 60 minutes and 22 seconds, and 32 minutes and 5 seconds on various dates. The DON acknowledged that staff were encouraged to answer call lights as quickly as possible, that call light times had been increasing, and that extended call light waits resulting in incontinence could negatively affect residents and constitute a dignity issue. The Administrator stated that an acceptable response time was about 6–8 minutes, acknowledged that 45–60 minutes or longer was unreasonable, and confirmed awareness of long call light times and related resident/family grievances. Both the DON and Administrator recognized that prolonged call light response times could negatively affect residents’ quality of life and dignity, contrary to the facility’s Resident Rights policy and the Combined Federal and State Resident Rights requirements.
We Help Long-Term Care Teams Stay Survey-Ready
We process and analyze inspection reports and plan of correction using AI to extract insights and trends so providers can improve care quality and stay ahead of compliance risks.