F0550

E

Failure to Respond Promptly and Appropriately to Resident Call Lights

Desoto, Texas Survey Completed on 03-05-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure residents’ rights to dignity, respect, and timely response to call lights. Multiple residents with varying levels of cognitive and physical impairment reported or were associated with delayed call light responses. One resident, an elderly female with severe cognitive impairment, dementia, stroke with left-sided paralysis, and protein-calorie malnutrition, was dependent on staff for repositioning and had no skin conditions on admission; her family member reported that staff took 45 minutes to answer call lights and over two hours to attend to her during rounding. Another resident, an elderly female with intact cognition and diagnoses including malnutrition, difficulty walking, and lack of coordination, stated that it could take staff up to an hour to respond to her call bell, occurring on all shifts depending on which staff were working.

Additional residents with intact or moderately impaired cognition and diagnoses such as type 2 diabetes, muscle wasting, lack of coordination, muscle weakness, cerebral infarction, vascular dementia, and end-stage renal disease were included in the review for resident rights. Resident council meeting minutes from two consecutive months documented complaints about call light response times, including reports that staff would enter rooms, turn off call lights, and leave without assisting with residents’ needs. The facility grievance logs for January and February recorded concerns related to call light response times. These interviews, resident council minutes, and grievance records collectively showed that residents’ call lights were not answered promptly and that staff sometimes silenced call lights without providing assistance, resulting in residents not being treated with respect and dignity as required.