Failure to Log Substantiated Verbal Abuse Incident on Facility Reporting Log
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to log an allegation of unprofessional conduct involving verbal abuse on the required reporting log. According to the Nursing Home Guidelines, The Purple Book, Sixth Edition, dated October 2015, allegations of staff-to-resident abuse must be entered on the facility’s Department of Social and Health Services reporting log within five days. Resident 3’s quarterly MDS assessment dated 02/10/2026 showed the resident had been readmitted on that date and did not have problems with memory or thinking. On 02/19/2026, an incident investigation form documented that Resident 3 complained a recreation assistant (Staff C) called them a derogatory name while they were speaking. Resident 3 reported that Staff C claimed the comment was made jokingly, but Resident 3 did not perceive it that way and responded by calling Staff C a derogatory name in retaliation. Further review of the incident investigation showed the allegation was substantiated when Staff C acknowledged calling Resident 3 a derogatory name. However, review of the facility’s incident log for the period 02/03/2026 to 02/28/2026 did not show that this substantiated verbal abuse incident from 02/19/2026 was entered on the log. During a joint record review and interview on 03/25/2026 at 4:50 PM, the Director of Nursing Services (Staff A) confirmed that the verbal abuse incident was not logged on the incident report log for that time frame and stated that all incident investigations were expected to be logged within five days of the incident. This failure to log the allegation and substantiated finding of verbal abuse was cited under WAC 388-97-0640(5)(a).
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.