[Rexie68]

I appreciate your advice, and will give it a try...if I can. One of my concerns, though, is having the TIME necessary to individualize my approach...and the resident being accessible. Perhaps other facilities are different, but I do approximately 20 MDS' per week. (Last year I did more than 1300 of them). I'd love to spend more time with the residents, but am not sure how that's going to be possible. Right now I'm getting all my information from the forms the floor nurses fill out, and I can do it any time of day or night. That will all have to change. Eh, not to worry right now....somehow we'll all survive.

[OHIOGIRL08]

THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO " IS ANYONE ELSE EVER LATE?" WELL IT SEEMS LIKE WE ARE ALWAYS LATE. WE JUST RECENTLY LOST OUR MDS RN COORDINATOR, NO GREAT LOSS, BUT WE HAVE A NEW ONE AND SHE HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF MDS... BUT SHE CAN SUBMIT WHICH IS GOOD. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF PUTTING IN A NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM WHICH WILL MAKE US " PAPERLESS" SO THEY SAY. AND WE HAVE TO LEARN ALL THE NEW COMPUTER STUFF FOR NOT ONLY THE MDS BUT ALSO SO WE CAN WORK THE FLOOR AS A CHARGE NURSE WHEN THERE IS A CALL OFF, IS THAT BULL OR WHAT???? SOME DAYS I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT MY JOB IS...THERE IS MYSELF AND ONE OTHER LPN WHO DOES ALL THE MDS. WE HAVE 180 BED FACILITY WITH ABOUT 25 SKILLED RIGHT NOW...BUT THIS MONTH HAS BEEN SO BAD WITH NURSE CALL OFFS THAT WE HAVE BEEN OUT ON THE FLOOR 4 DAYS SO FAR THIS MONTH AND THERE'S 2 WEEKS TO GO. SO HOW DO YOU NOT GET BEHIND? I HAVE SOME 6/6/08 DATES I AM STILL WORKING ON, BUT WE'RE ALWAYS IN COMPLIANCE. YOU HAVE 14 DAYS ON YOUR SIGN DATE AND THAT SAVES ME , A LOT.... PLUS WE HAVE TO DO MARS AND CHECK PO SHEETS EVERY MONTH FOR CHANGE OVER...I LOVE BEING A MDS NURSE BUT I GUESS IT'S JUST LIKE ANY OTHER JOB, THERE ARE SOME DAYS WHEN I JUST WANT TO PULL MY HAIR OUT. THE OTHER GIRL WHO WORKS WITH ME IS GREAT, SHE'S NOT ONLY MY FRIEND, SHE'S MY BRAIN AND MY STRENGTH WHEN MY BRAIN HAS GONE DEAD.... ANY ONE ELSE STRESSED TODAY.......