Nursing surveillance and immediate jeopardy in Veteran Health Administration community living centers unannounced survey program 2018 to 2019.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The VA Community Living Center (CLC) Unannounced Survey Program aims to assess standards of care set by the government to protect residents. PURPOSE: To describe patterns of practice failures in nursing surveillance causing or having potential to cause immediate jeopardy, as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. METHODS: Using CLC survey data consisting of 200 statements of deficiency (SODs) for 2018 to 2019, we collected a SOD sample (n = 20) of immediate jeopardy events. They were described using descriptive statistics and discourse content analysis. FINDINGS: We identified clinical events, their duration, work shift, and nursing skill mix for each SOD. Most to least common themes about failures in nursing surveillance were acquisition/transfer of information; decision-making; and early recognition of problems. DISCUSSION: Our analysis of nursing surveillance failures in CLC immediate jeopardy SODs provides insight into opportunities for registered nurses and the nursing skill mix to reduce avoidable harms.