Our next “Ftag of the Week” on the CMSCG Blog is F942 Resident’s Rights Training. F942 is another tag in the Training Requirements regulatory group that was included with the Requirements of Participation (RoPs), but limited Interpretive Guidance (IG) was included. As of October 24, 2022, surveyors are now using the revised SOM Appendix PP (10/26/2022) which includes additional guidance for this requirement.
F942 – The Regulation
Per F942, providers are required to ensure that employees are educated on the resident’s rights and the facility’s responsibilities to properly care for its residents.
What’s Required
Resident’s rights training is expected to be on-going, and this regulatory requirement is for all staff, not just direct care staff, as well as contract staff and volunteers, consistent with their roles. This training must cover all of the requirements under the Resident Rights (§483.10) regulations. These include the resident’s right to:
- A dignified existence
- Self-determination
- Communication with/ access to individuals both in the facility and outside of it
- Exercise his/her rights as a resident of the facility
- Exercise his/her rights as a citizen/resident of the United States
- Be free from interference, coercion, discrimination and reprisal from the facility in exercising his/her rights and to be supported by the facility when exercising these rights
As such, providers have the responsibility to ensure residents retain these rights. All care, services and interactions with residents in a facility are expected to assist the residents with maintaining and enhancing their self-esteem/self-worth and incorporate the resident’s goals, preferences and choices.
To achieve this, nursing homes are required to:
- Treat each resident with respect and dignity
- Care for each resident in a manner and environment that promotes the maintenance of/ or enhances the resident’s quality of life
- Respect each resident’s individuality
- Protect and promote the rights of all residents
- Provide equal access to quality care – regardless of diagnosis, severity of the condition(s) or payment source
- Establish and maintain the same policies and practices regarding transfer, discharge and/or State plan service provision for all residents – regardless of payment source
- Ensure residents can exercise their rights without interference, coercion, discrimination or reprisal from the facility
As with other training regulations, the content of this regulation addresses the development and implementation of on-going education for the subject matter identified in the regulation’s topic. Hopefully, you have made Resident Rights one of topics that are covered during an annual reorientation and not just during orientation.
If you look at the Guidance associated with this regulation, it stresses that this education should “support current scope and standards of practice” through a program that includes learning objectives, outlines the facility’s performance expectations related to each employee’s responsibilities regarding resident rights, as well as how the facility will evaluate each employee’s use of the knowledge provided in this education.
On Survey
There are many opportunities for surveyors to identify potential issues with staff understanding of resident rights and the facility’s associated responsibilities, given the number of resident rights that are required to be honored by staff in various regulations.
Surveyors can ask staff from different departments about their knowledge of resident rights and facility responsibilities – what will your staff say about when they last received this training? Keep in mind – the answer likely should not be “during orientation,” unless they are speaking to a new hire. You could even take it one step further and ensure that your policy on Resident Rights, which is the core of this training regulation, has a review date that reflects of your current standards of practice.
