Incident documentation must be objective, timely, complete, and focused on resident safety. The purpose is to identify what happened, assess resident outcome, prevent recurrence, and support QAPI.
Required Elements
- Date/time/location of incident.
- Witnessed or unwitnessed.
- Resident statement, if available.
- Objective assessment.
- Injury description.
- Vital signs and pain.
- Notifications.
- Immediate interventions.
- Contributing factors.
- Follow-up monitoring.
- Care plan update.
- Root cause and prevention plan.
Root-Cause Questions
- What was the resident doing immediately before the incident?
- What staff were present?
- Were care plan interventions in place?
- Was equipment used correctly?
- Were medications, infection, weakness, behavior, toileting, environment, footwear, lighting, or supervision contributing factors?
- What intervention will reduce recurrence?
CMS staff training guidance also ties staff education to QAPI goals, communication of concerns, and updating training when facility QAPI goals or standards change.