Incomplete Post-Fall Assessment and Monitoring
Summary
The facility failed to ensure thorough post-fall assessments and monitoring were completed for a resident who experienced multiple falls and later sustained serious injuries. After an unwitnessed fall in April, the resident was found on the floor on her left side with her hand under her head, denied pain at the time, and had a neurological check documented as without abnormal findings. However, the record contained inconsistent and incomplete documentation for follow-up assessments, including focus charting entries with identical vital signs entered on different dates and no neurological assessments documented on those forms. The record also lacked documentation showing the resident received the full 72 hours of neurological monitoring expected after the fall. The resident’s condition after the April fall changed over the next several days. She had nausea and vomiting reported to the provider, later had an altered level of consciousness documented, and was sent to the emergency department for abnormal labs and low kidney function. She was then admitted to the hospital with a head bleed and transferred to another hospital with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Imaging showed multifocal acute intracranial hemorrhage, including contusions, subarachnoid hemorrhage, subdural hematomas, intraventricular hemorrhage, local mass effect, and a nondisplaced occipital bone fracture. The resident’s record also lacked clear documentation of the neurological assessments the facility stated had been completed on paper. A second fall in June was also not thoroughly assessed or documented. The resident was found on the floor by a CNA and was assisted back to bed before a nurse assessed her. The resident later reported pain in her arm, and a hospice nurse found grimacing and limited arm movement, leading to an x-ray that showed a fractured humeral neck with mild displacement. The record lacked documentation of the fall before several days later, and facility interviews indicated the CNA did not notify nursing staff at the time and that no neurological assessments were completed for that unwitnessed fall. The report also identified two other residents for whom unwitnessed falls did not have complete neurological assessments documented: one resident found sitting on the floor with no neurological assessment in the record, and another resident with an unwitnessed fall and reported head impact who had vital signs taken but no neurological assessments completed.
Penalty
Resources
Below are regulatory guidelines relevant to this citation:
Trusted data from CMS and state health departments
Every citation, penalty and Plan of Correction is sourced from public CMS records (latest release October 8, 2026) and official state health department websites — never guesswork.
In your survey window? See what surveyors are citing.
The Survey-Prep Report maps your facility's risk from 12 months of CMS and state citation data — what's being cited around you and what to check first. $129 one-time.