This week’s Ftag of the Week on the CMSCG Blog is F907 Space and Equipment, which is part of the Physical Environment regulatory group. F907 focuses on ensuring that nursing home dining, health services, recreation and activities and other programs are conducted in spaces of sufficient size to allow staff to meet residents’ needs as well ensuring that the necessary equipment to meet each resident’s needs per his/her plan of care is available.
Remember that the size of the program area is supposed to “comfortably accommodate” the residents utilizing the space as well as the equipment that they require in addition to a facility’s responsibility to have sufficient storage space for all of the equipment and devices used by its resident population.
Concerns that have been identified and cited during a survey should make you take a look at how you are managing space and equipment in your building. The following examples provide some food for thought:
- Surveyors will look to see if therapy program areas have sufficient space and equipment to meet residents’ therapy needs. One facility was cited for having therapy equipment that was in poor condition in a room where residents were crowded together. A resident told surveyors that everyone bumped into each other while exercising or were interrupted during their therapy time to allow others to walk through the area where they were receiving therapy. At another facility, the therapy room was so small that residents told surveyors that they had to do their exercises in the dining room where they didn’t have any privacy.
- Surveyors will also identify if there is sufficient space for storing and/or using mobility devices, assistive technology and other equipment that is needed to provide resident care. One facility was cited at F907 for not having an adequate number of mechanical lifts available to meet the needs of multiple residents.
- Other facilities have been cited related to lack of sufficient equipment under F907. One facility was cited after its oxygen supply ran out because there were valve problems on the refill containers. Since there was no oxygen available to fill the portable oxygen tanks, residents had to eat in their rooms instead of the dining rooms. Another facility was cited for using a suction machine that did not have the correct tubing.
As we have been mentioning in our Ftag reviews of the Physical Environment regulatory group, most of these deficient practices were identified via surveyor observation and confirmed with resident/ representative interviews. If your facility is providing a service to your residents, such as physical therapy, you need to ensure that there is sufficient space and equipment to provide services to meet residents’ needs while keeping their safety and dignity in mind.