MDS Nurse burned out and going back to the floor

[LTCNS]

I have been a LPN for over 16 years. For 14 of those 16 years I have been a MDS Nurse and have just accepted a job in a LTC facility as a floor nurse with more pay and better benefits. I am so burned out and so tired of the other "stuff" that comes with the MDS Nurses' job. Nurses who have never touched a MDS think it is a fluff job and as all you MDS Coordinators know, this is very far from the truth. In addition, I am tired of looking at four walls five days a week, the office politics, the cliques etc...and am ready to get back out on the floor. I will be working the Rehab floor so will be busy and I like that.

I enjoy interacting with residents and staff and am at peace with knowing that I will no longer be responsible for everything the MDS position entails. I have given up the Mon-Fri., weekends and holidays off thing, but honestly I will be thrilled to have weekdays off to do things that are impossible to do working five days a week, then running around on Saturdays trying to cram everything in, being exhausted on Sunday and going back to do it all again on Monday.

With that said, I do enjoy the actual MDS process but all that comes along with it? Not so much anymore. Am I crazy for giving it up? Or just really, truly burned out? I may very well end up going back to doing MDS 3.0 in the future but for now, I need a break.

Just needed to vent and appreciate all of you "listening."

[DavidKarl]

The MDS Coordinator has the most responsible job in a SNF, and the most thankless, and grueling- and and enilghtened DON or ADM would easily say the same thing. Must constantly know every detail of every patient. Must complete and update every care plan. Sends survey unformation directly to the state. For example- when the surveyors enter, thay are armed with a myriad of reports gealned from the MDS. If the assessments ate behind, or incorrect, the surveyors have bad information, which can lead to citations to the SNF. Aside from that, imagine trying to coerce and coddle 50, or 100 employees, daily, to keep up their own paperwork, so that is is always in sync with the MDS? And let's not forget- the MDS drives reimbursement? It is hardly an 'office' job- there's no way you can sit at a desk all day and be able to keep up with the required pace, know wha's going on in every bed, with every patient's family situation (in order to function as the care plan meeting coordinator/doer/etc.), be aware of every admit and discharge before they happen to be able to keep up and plan, and? It's always extra fun to be told you have to work the floor at times. And even way MORE fun to prepare to creats an MDS, and the patient has been there, say a week? And the chart is...blank/empty of any assessments? Yep- cush. Like walking on fire...But I miss it, and am teaching myself the 3.0, to get back into it. I go back to the floor at intervals, though, when I just can't take it any longer- usually, when there's a social worker that can't or won't participate fully/keep up with the mountainous flow of paperwork...that's the straw that normally breaks my back, because I refuse to do everyone else's work. It called 'interdisciplinary care plan', for a reason, eh?

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

The MDS Coordinator has the most responsible job in a SNF, and the most thankless, and grueling- and and enilghtened DON or ADM would easily say the same thing.

Oh you make me chuckle. As an "enlightened" DON with 10+ years MDS experience and 4 years ADON/DON experience I SO beg to differ with you as having the most responsible,thankless and grueling job in LTC. But, until you've actually done both jobs you will never get it.

I mean no disrespect. I agree the MDS job is difficult, stressful & extremely important and most have no clue what you are doing but if you really believe it is more difficult than the DON job than I have some oceanfront property I would like to talk to you about.

[DavidKarl]

I'll modify my answer, because I sense that you're one of the 'other' type of DON. The enlightened type. The real type? "The MDS Coordinator is the second most thankless jobs in the typical SNF". DEAL?

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

I'll modify my answer, because I sense that you're one of the 'other' type of DON. The enlightened type. The real type? "The MDS Coordinator is the second most thankless jobs in the typical SNF". DEAL?

Deal - but I bet most aides would beg to differ with us both. I've been in LTC for 25+ years, have done every nursing position available (aide to LPN to RN) and I have yet to find a job that was easy, non-stressful and not thankless most of the time. I'm pretty sure every one of us in LTC think we have the hardest job - because they are all hard.

[DavidKarl]

My second clarification- I was talking licensed staff only. Obviously, CNAs are taken for granted, abused, unappreciated, paid slave wages, and many have personal strife to deal with. I have always advocated them, and usually taken their sides in arguments, nurse vs aide bickering, and have never allowed a nurse to treat any CNA badly, if I was aware of it. I tried that gig way back in the 1980's, when everyone was tied down, and it took an hour to change those cloth diapers, and all the patients were drugged and immobilized. At least now there are disposables, few restraints, patients are more mobile and helpful, and etc. But, it's still 'the most difficult job in a SNF', if not in the WORLD. I've always thought up ways to ease their job, help them be organized to prevent repeating steps, stay calm, and the like. They love it when I'm working their assignment, they think I'm from another planet because I answer lights, toilet folks, feed them, help them change folks, insist that they take their breaks, and the like.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Deal - but I bet most aides would beg to differ with us both. I've been in LTC for 25+ years, have done every nursing position available (aide to LPN to RN) and I have yet to find a job that was easy, non-stressful and not thankless most of the time. I'm pretty sure every one of us in LTC think we have the hardest job - because they are all hard.

And there might be some LPN floor nurses who beg to differ with all y'all.

Seriously though, I see first hand how our MDS nurse is pulled in a dozen different directions, leaving her little time to do any of the MDS charting.

And I do see that our DON and ADON never get to leave work at work. I'd hate that, too.