It is against Federal Regulations
to allow a Resident to suffer a preventable Accidents
Most Accidents and falls are preventable!
Ftag 323
§483.25(h) Accidents: 42
CFR 483.25(H) (1) AND (2) ACCIDENTS AND SUPERVISION
The facility must ensure
that -
(1) The resident environment remains
as free from accident hazards as is possible; and
(2) Each resident receives adequate supervision and assistance devices
to prevent accidents.
The intent of this requirement is to ensure the facility provides
an environment that is free from accident hazards over which the
facility has control and provides supervision and
assistive devices to each resident to prevent avoidable accidents.
This includes:
- Identifying hazard(s) and risk(s);
- Evaluating and analyzing hazard(s) and risk(s);
- Implementing interventions to reduce hazard(s) and risk(s); and
- Monitoring for effectiveness and modifying interventions when
necessary.
- "Accident" refers to any unexpected or unintentional
incident, which may result in injury or illness to a resident. This
does not include adverse outcomes that are a
direct consequence of treatment or care that is provided in accordance
with current standards of practice (e.g., drug side effects
or reaction).
- "Avoidable Accident" is clearly defined: it means that
an accident occurred because the facility failed to:
- Identify environmental hazards and individual resident risk of
an
accident, including the need for supervision; and/or
- Evaluate/analyze the hazards and risks; and/or
- Implement interventions, including adequate supervision, consistent
with a resident's needs, goals, plan of care, and current standards
of practice in order to reduce the risk of an accident;
and/or
- Monitor the effectiveness of the interventions and modify the
interventions as necessary, in accordance with current standards
of practice.
- "Unavoidable Accident" means that an accident occurred
despite facility efforts to:
- Identify environmental hazards and individual resident risk of
an accident, including the need for supervision; and
- Evaluate/analyze the hazards and risks; and
- Implement interventions, including adequate supervision, consistent
with the resident's needs, goals, plan of care, and current standards
of practice in order to reduce the risk of an accident; and
- Monitor the effectiveness of the interventions and modify the
interventions as necessary, in accordance with current standards
of practice.
Unless the Nursing Home has diligently followed all of these safety
precautions, the resident is at risk and any resulting inujry cannot
be termed "Unavoidable"!
Call us at 617-479-4300
if a loved one has been severly injured by
a lack of care resulting in dehydration.
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