HospitalInspections.org

Based on document review and interview, it was determined that the facility failed to follow facility policy by not reporting alleged sexual assault information to parents/guardians and all team members included in the care of patients and to the Quality committee.

The findings include:

A review of the facility policy titled: "Nursing services procedure for follow up on alleged sexual activity between patients" provided on November 29, 2018 at 12:45 p.m. by Staff Member # 2 reads in part: "Any sexual contact between patients, either witnessed or alleged must be reported to the following persons: the attending physician, the charge nurse and nursing supervisor, program director/unit coordinator, director of nursing or administrator on call, the parents or guardians of the involved patients and core team member via shift report. This is an extremely sensitive matter for most parents and requires follow up by psychotherapist as soon as possible".

There is no evidence that the parents/guardians of four (4) of the five (5) patients that made allegations were notified.

An interview with Staff Member # 6 on November 29, 2018 at 9:50 a.m. revealed Staff Member # 6 has been a Registered Nurse (RN) at the facility for approximately three and a half years. Staff Member # 6 works on Unit 7 B primarily during the day. Staff Member # 6 stated: "there were no reports of anything from any of the girls. The girls were not afraid or distance of each other. The girls were together horseplay as usual during her shifts."

An interview with Staff Member # 7, therapist for Patient # 3, on November 29, 2018 at 12:10 p.m. revealed: "He/she is not aware of any assault. Patient normally tells me if there are issues with a peer on the unit. Patient # 7 bullied Patient # 3 and broke his/her necklace. There have been no complaints of sexual assault. (Patient # 3's name) has a history of sexual abuse and would think this would be a trigger for him/her and he/she would want to talk to me about this. I think they (the girls) got tired of (Patient # 7's name) and they (the girls) came up with the same story to get him/her moved".

Staff Member # 1, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), stated: "I was not aware of these allegations" during the exit interview on November 29, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.