Failure to Maintain Clean, Sanitary, and Homelike Resident Rooms
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide a clean, sanitary, and homelike environment for residents, as evidenced by conditions in two sampled residents’ rooms and inconsistent housekeeping practices. In one resident’s room, surveyors observed soiled window surfaces, visibly dirty windowsills, trash items (a paper wrapper and medicine cup) on the floor near the trash can, and wall surfaces with holes, cracks, and missing paint. The resident reported living in the facility for two years and stated that neither the window curtains nor the privacy curtains had been washed during that time. The resident further stated that when they asked housekeepers about cleaning the curtains, they were told the curtains could not be taken down due to privacy concerns, and described the curtains as being touched by everyone and not cleaned well. Another resident’s room was observed not to have received basic daily cleaning, with dust and debris under the bed and heat register, dust on the dresser, a crumpled napkin on the floor near the bed, an overflowing trash can, and a discarded glove and gown tie on the floor near the trash can. This resident stated that no one had come in to clean their room the previous day or the day of the observation. These observations showed that routine cleaning tasks, such as trash removal, dusting, and floor cleaning, were not consistently performed in resident rooms. Interviews with staff revealed conflicting and unclear information about the frequency and scope of daily and deep cleaning. One staff member stated that no deep cleaning was being completed, that there was only one housekeeper per floor responsible for many residents, and that CNAs cleaned as needed after housekeeping left for the day. Another staff member initially stated that every room was deep cleaned daily, then clarified that downstairs rooms were deep cleaned daily and upstairs rooms weekly, and later stated the facility was working on a monthly deep cleaning schedule. This staff member also reported not knowing if window and privacy curtains were removable. Another staff member stated that two rooms per floor were deep cleaned each day and questioned the reliability of the deep clean log, noting that “anyone can check something off.” Review of QAPI minutes showed a plan to start a privacy curtain cleaning rotation, but no documentation of such a rotation was provided, and the facility’s own “Complete Room Cleaning” document referenced monthly discharge-level cleaning and checking curtains without evidence this was carried out as described.
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