AANAC

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Hi all,

A little about me: I'm a new grad, recently hired as an MDS Coordinator. I enjoy the job so far and thinking about getting the AANAC certification. How long should I wait to start the certification process? Is there a minimum amount of experience that would be helpful? How helpful is an AANAC membership (and access to the MDS forum, newsletters, etc) to the MDS position?

On a different note, is managing 25-30 Medicare patients a reasonable work load (maybe an average of 2 admissions/day and 2 discharges/day)?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated :)

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Specializes in long term care - MDS.

Are you doing the mcr by yourself? Are other disciplines putting their parts in, doing their CAAs? That is a high case load if you take on others jobs.

AANAC is great for recogniton, networking, new information and CEUs required. They post positions online and send you offers by mail. I just got recertified for 3.0 last fall and took online classes. I wish I had purchased the modules for printout or manuals, but with all the changes it probably doesn't make sense. I say go for it. You can do a module or two at a time when you have the inclanation. It also clarifies some things better for me and it's at your own pace. Good luck! sps

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No, there are 2 of us. She has 5+ years of MDS experience. Average workload between us is 25-30 Medicare + 70-80 Medicaid. Our IDT includes us, social services, dietary, activity, therapy and restorative. MDS is only responsible for the nursing CAAs.

Thanks for your feedback regarding AANAC. I think I might join and get certified...

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That is a reasonable workload. we have 30 medicare and 65 medicaid. We also do the care planning. We stay busy but it is totally doable.

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I have been a member of AANAC and RAC-CT for a long time. I recommend joining and getting certified. if your company will pay for you to go to one of their classes I think you learn alot more then doing online if you are new to MDS. Even though I am certified I am going to a class the end of September just to hear all of the changes and be able to ask questions. (Unfortunately I have to pay for it all myself, so I just added a few days and made it into a mini vacation)

Good Luck!!

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Specializes in long term care - MDS.

I was thinking the facility was larger. We had 25-30 mcr and maybe 100 case-mix. It also depends on the company, software, other team member input and how many "hoops" you have to jump through. Some company's multiple multiple checks and difficult software make things burdensome.

I hope you decided to go for it. My coworker is going to a three day class next week to get certified. She's done MDS in the past, has been a DON and is a smart cookie. Knowledge is always useful and marketable. ; )

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