Failure to Provide Dignified, Timely Dining Assistance to Dependent Residents
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to provide a dignified and respectful dining experience for multiple residents who required assistance with eating. On several observed occasions, residents who were unable to feed themselves due to physical or mental handicaps had trays placed in front of them with food left uncovered for extended periods before staff began feeding them. In one instance, a resident with an uncovered plate in front of them waited from 12:10 p.m. until 12:22 p.m. before a CNA sat down to provide feeding assistance. In another observation, a resident seated in a specialized chair with bilateral upper extremity contractures had an uncovered plate placed in front of them at 12:17 p.m., but staff did not begin assisting the resident to eat until 12:25 p.m. CNAs confirmed that these residents required feeding assistance. Additional observations showed residents at tables experiencing delays in receiving their meals or in receiving assistance to eat while their tablemates were already eating. On one day, a resident seated with two tablemates did not receive a tray until 12:20 p.m., and despite tray setup, did not receive feeding assistance until 12:23 p.m. due to physical handicaps preventing self-feeding. In another case, a resident at a table did not receive a tray until 12:20 p.m. and was not assisted to eat until 12:24 p.m., while tablemates were already eating. On a separate day, one resident at a table was assisted and finished eating while a tablemate had not yet received a meal; a different resident was then seated and served at the same table before the original tablemate received a plate at 12:22 p.m., and that resident did not receive feeding assistance until 12:24 p.m. Interviews with the DM, ADON, and Administrator confirmed that facility expectations and written policies require residents at the same table to receive plates without gaps, that residents needing assistance should be served when staff are immediately available to assist, and that residents are to be provided a dignified dining experience and adequate staff assistance with eating.
Penalty
Resources
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