mds

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Greetings

I am a home health nurse interviewing next week for an MDS postion. Have read past posts here and have a question for you LTC experts out there.

What is a good question to ask them, for example how many patients do they have, will I be the only MDS nurse...

I have been in QI in home care and have PPS/RAP etc experience.

I am wondering what the pay rate is out there, I know home health does not pay a lot but no way will I return to acute care.

Any thoughts are welcome.Thanks!

ASK...

What the resident census is like? How many medicare residents they average? What kind of problems they are currently having with the RAI process? (If applicable) Why is the other person leaving? Find out about being on call, are you going to be required? Is there a back up person if you get sick? Who set's up care conferences with families? Who are the current members of the IDCP team? What role do they play in completing the MDS? What is the current process for completing them? Ask about continued education in the process. Because you would be coming from a home health environment, would you be going to an updated training session for MDS's?

Seem's like a lot to ask, but going in with your eyes wide open to some of the issues causing others to leave may be a help.

Good Luck!

Thanks for you help

I went in today notebook in hand.

They have around 300 beds, half Medicare, short term. The last MDS nurse left because of the communte.

Only one MDS nurse, and they said it would be 40 hrs salary and expect overtime when they bill, then you can take comp.

Training offered was a day at another LTC with an MDS nurse.

It sounds like this is a job for more than one person.

I think I will stay in home health for now (the devil I know..)

Nice chatting! :) :)

Sounds like you made a wise decision. Good luck in your endevours!

Catsrule is absolutely right. Run, do not walk, away from the job offer. 300 beds--half Medicare--and one MDS nurse??????

I am a unit manager, so half my job is supervisory, the other half is MDS/careplanning for 49 beds, and I never have a dull moment. I used to work in a building where there was one MDS nurse for 180 beds (60 subacute), and she was very, very good, but horribly overworked. I cannot imagine one person doing 300. The other disciplines would have to be completely on top of their sections, and the floor nurses would have to do the nursing sections, and probably you'd need someone else to do the care planning, and then maybe you'd survive--barely.

I'm sure you'll find some other way to get out of home health without going back into the hospital. Pay in LTC, at least where I live, is somewhat less than hospital nursing. There's lots of agency work, though, which pays very, very well.

(And yes indeedy, cats *do* rule....)

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