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32 | Facility is retaining residents beyond their level of care.
During the interview process, numerous documents were obtained. Documents included the Physician’s Report, Medication Administrative Records (MARs), Home Health records, Hospice records, Resident Care Plan, and Physicians Orders.
During the investigation process, management, numerous staff persons, a physician and a nurse were interviewed regarding the resident’s condition. The resident (Resident 1) was not interviewed, as she has since passed away.
It was reported that the resident developed several pressure injuries while in care as noted in the above-mentioned report. It was indicated that for numerous days, the resident had several pressure injuries that were not staged by a physician or an appropriately skilled professional, as required. If the licensee chooses to retain a resident with pressure injuries, the licensee shall have the pressure injuries staged and shall ask the licensing agency for an exception to retain the resident if the pressure injuries are a Stage 3 or 4. It is noted that at the time, when the resident had pressure injuries, initially the resident was not receiving home health care or hospice services for several days. It was determined that the facility failed to obtain an exception for the resident when it was determined that the resident had pressure injuries (unstaged), which is a prohibited and/or restricted health condition.
According to the Mayo Clinic a pressure ulcer is, “A localized injury to the skin and /or underlying tissue usually over a bony prominence, as a result of pressure, or pressure in combination with shear”. The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) advises that “Unstageable wounds are either Stage 3 or 4 ulcers that cannot definitively be placed in either of these stages due to eschar (dry scab or mass of dead tissue covering a wound) that obstructs clear observation of the wound. Therefore, by general medical consensus, a wound diagnosed as an unstageable wound is either a Stage 3 or 4 wound and, as such, is to be treated as a prohibited health condition.” |