Delay in Diagnostic Evaluation and Treatment After Resident Fall
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide timely care and services following a resident’s unwitnessed fall. The resident had been admitted with a nondisplaced intertrochanteric fracture of the right femur, muscle weakness, COPD, osteoporosis, and avascular necrosis, and had moderate cognitive impairment. On the date of the incident, staff heard the resident yelling and found her sitting on the floor, leaning on the wheel of an unlocked wheelchair beside the bed. She reported right elbow pain, and staff noted bruising, swelling, and normal range of motion. She was assisted back to bed. An Interact Change in Condition Evaluation later that evening documented marked localized bruising, swelling, or pain not only in the right elbow but also in the right trochanter and right thigh, and indicated the resident had pain. Following the fall, the resident complained of right hip and upper leg pain and requested that staff call her brother. The physician was notified and immediate X‑rays of the right elbow, right femur, and right hip were ordered. However, the X‑rays were not obtained that day because the contracted X‑ray company could not come to the facility due to inclement weather. The DON confirmed that, despite the inability of the X‑ray company to respond, the resident was not sent to the ER that day to obtain imaging as an emergency measure. The Medical Director acknowledged awareness that the X‑rays were delayed until the following day and attributed the delay to the X‑ray company’s availability. The X‑rays were finally completed the next morning and revealed an acute intertrochanteric fracture of the proximal right femur and an acute comminuted fracture of the olecranon process of the proximal ulna, with associated osteopenia, joint effusion, and soft tissue swelling. Subsequent hospital evaluation identified additional fractures involving the right superior and inferior pubic rami and redemonstration of an impacted proximal humeral fracture with evidence of healing. The resident’s brother confirmed that nearly 24 hours elapsed between the fall and the discovery of the fractures, and he expressed concern about the delay in treatment. The facility’s Managing Falls and Fall Risk policy stated that staff would try to minimize complications from falling, but in this case, the resident did not receive timely diagnostic evaluation and related care after the fall when the ordered X‑rays could not be obtained as planned.
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