Failure to Adjust Activities Program After Resident’s Significant Change in Condition
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide an activities program that met the interests and needs of a resident who experienced a significant change in condition and activity participation. The resident, who was cognitively intact with a BIMS score of 15 and served as president of the Resident Council, sustained fractures to the left distal femur and right distal femur/knee area after a fall and was hospitalized. Diagnostic imaging showed an anterior apex angulated, impacted distal femur diametaphyseal fracture on the left and an impacted, comminuted anterior apex angulated fracture of the distal fifth metaphysis of the right knee, with osteopenia noted. After hospitalization, the resident returned to the facility and had an MDS with a significant change assessment, with Section F indicating that it was important for her to do things with groups of people, participate in favorite activities, and attend church services. Record review showed that prior to the fall and fractures, the resident participated in out-of-room activities, including Resident Council, food committee, parties, and socials. The activity care plan, originally created in 2020 and revised multiple times through early 2025, documented numerous preferences and important activities for the resident, such as in-room visits, participation in food committee, church, singing, cooking, gardening, going outside in good weather, pet visits, listening to religious and other music, watching TV, reading, and engaging in religious services and voting. The care plan also noted that it was important for her to engage in her favorite activities and to have opportunities to make choices related to meaningful activities. However, there were no new interventions added or changes made to the activity care plan after her significant change in condition and return from the hospital. Activity participation records from the beginning of the year through the time of survey showed that since her readmission from the hospital, the resident had no out-of-room activity participation and only two documented one-to-one visits, both on the same day. During interview, the resident reported that she could no longer stand, pivot, or get into her wheelchair, and that she was now unable to attend Resident Council meetings, church, or be around people as she had before. She expressed distress about missing family gatherings she had been working toward attending and stated that activity staff did not visit very often and that she could not go out to the groups she liked. The Director of Recreation confirmed that the resident had not attended group activities since returning from the hospital due to being non–weight bearing, that anything done with her was now in-room, and that social visits were not consistently documented. The Administrator and Director of Recreation acknowledged that documentation showed only two one-to-one visits and no updated interventions on the care plan since before the significant change, leading to the finding that the facility failed to provide a program of activities to meet this resident’s needs and interests after her change in condition.
