Can anyone help with setting audit tools, please...

[newQAnurse]

Hello everybody,

I decided to use this awesome forum today. I discovered this website and have been reading the posts for the last 2 months and I think it is tremendous help for nurses. Today I need your help.

I am a new QA nurse in LTC (200 beds), where I was offered this new position after being there for few years as a staff RN. This position is created here recently (just never had any QI/QA RN there). No one seems to know exactly what QA nurse will be doing, so I will appreciate any and all help from this forum - any suggestions in terms of any audit tools/ computer audit programs and how to set up daily routine will be much appreciated. If you have any tools that you use and willing to share, please let me know.

Thank you very much in advance.:wink2:

[3rdcareerRN]

Disclaimer: I am not a QA nurse and have not worked in LTC. However, some of my background in business involved QA.

Tip: If your position is really that undefined, you need to think about what you need to justify when your position/salary is up for review. Find out who created the position and why. Define what outcomes or processes needs QA.

Use the Pareto principle (80-20 rule) to concentrate your efforts on the 20% of the issues that cause 80% of the deficiencies. An early step, of course, is determining which ones are the 20%.

Spend time with the MDS people, as they should have QA tools for charting/assessment.

Talk to your state surveyors (yes, really!); they'll have checklists and survey/statistical tools.

Take the free, short courses on healthcare process improvement at IHI.ORG (look for "open school").

Talk to your local college/university to get free help from the statistics or business administration department. Often there are seniors or grad students who need a place to practice real-life projects, and your site could be one.

As you've seen in other postings, there are some industry reference books on QA.

Good luck!

[newQAnurse]

Yes! thank you very much. Now, that I've read more posts, I've seen a lot of good suggestions and options. Thanks again. I appreciate everyone's assistance.