Persistent Sticky Floor and Inadequate Cleaning in Shared Resident Room
Summary
Surveyors identified a deficiency in maintaining a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment when staff failed to ensure that the floor in a shared resident room was properly and frequently cleaned, resulting in a persistently sticky floor for two residents. One resident had hemiplegia and hemiparesis following a stroke affecting the left side, used a wheelchair, was cognitively intact, and was dependent on staff for activities, cognitive stimulation, and social interaction. This resident reported that a family member had recently brought in a wet Swiffer sweeper and mopped the floor twice because it was sticky. Another cognitively intact resident in the same room had chronic right heart failure, high blood pressure, and a communication problem, and reported that staff did not mop the room every day and that the floor stayed sticky due to urinary incontinence. On multiple observations over two days, surveyors found that the floor in the room shared by the two residents was sticky each time it was checked. One resident stated that staff did mop the floor but believed they did not change the mop bucket water, which he thought contributed to the floor remaining sticky. Housekeeping staff interviews revealed awareness that the floor in this room was sticky almost every day and that one resident was incontinent of urine, with urine frequently seen on the floor and coming out of the resident’s incontinence brief. Housekeepers reported using the same disinfectant mopping process in this room as in other rooms, changing mop water by hall, and some stated they planned to tell or had not told their supervisor about the persistent stickiness. Nursing and administrative staff interviews further showed that several staff members, including a CMT and an RN, were aware that the floor in the room was sticky almost every day, but they had not reported this to supervisors. The DON stated not having noticed the sticky floor but acknowledged that the room was usually a mess and that staff had tried using special cleaning wipes and mopping. The DON also reported recent turnover in housekeeping leadership, with the prior head housekeeper leaving and new housekeeping staff and a new housekeeping supervisor just starting, and that nursing staff were helping with laundry. The Administrator stated not knowing that the floor was sticky and was unsure what nurse aides would use to clean urine from the floor when housekeeping was not present. These observations and interviews demonstrated that the facility did not ensure effective cleaning practices or communication to address the ongoing sticky floor condition in the residents’ room.
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