Admits/ Re admits

99% of the time we get:the med/treatment orders( either written poorly if it's a regular doc or one of the surgeons or typed neatly if it's one of the orthopedic surgeons), the H&P, and clinical resume. Sometimes we get :labs, consults, and other miscellaneous stuff. I'm lucky...I have access to the local hospital's computer so if they forget to send us copies of labs or CT scans or whatever, I go on the computer and look it up myself. Sure is much easier than dealing with the medical records department.

I think information shared between facilities is very important for patient safety and treatment. I say shared, because when patients are admitted we also have a difficult time with the admission if the information sent with the patient is sketchy. Ive called facilities myslef with requests for faxes with certain information on a patient that i need for their admission to the hospital.

Hospitals usually have very specific information that they require be sent back with a patient. Check with the hospital and find out but most of what you mentioned should be coming back to you. If not its just been a sloppy discharge and someone needs to know so they can correct the problem. It could be as simple as a phone call.

Good luck and i hope things get smoother.

I guess this is alittle bit of a vent...

How much info do you get? 75% of the time I get very little. It depends on the hospital.

This is what I want/ need:

Discharge orders (meds/ treatments) clearly written in one place or form.

Normally what I get is an old copy of a computerized mar...some times days old

Also would be nice to indicate if any f/u appts were made or if I need to make

any

A copy of any recent labs or diagnostic tests. ....ie chest xray or ct scan

A H&P

Is this asking too much? I know for MDS purposes we need more things (orders or MARs showing IV therapy, PT or OT notes, Blood transfusions, etc) but inorder to get the admissions done as quickly as possible, this stuff would help.

We get all that information and if it's not with the resident when they arrive, we can directly access the hospital network on line and get it for ourselves.

What cracks me up is every single time we get report and ask a question, the response from the hospital nurse is "I don't know, this is the first day I had him/her"!

We get all that information and if it's not with the resident when they arrive, we can directly access the hospital network on line and get it for ourselves.

What cracks me up is every single time we get report and ask a question, the response from the hospital nurse is "I don't know, this is the first day I had him/her"!

It's great you call the hospital if everything you feel you need isn't with the patient, but this is an example of a nurse with a bad attitude:

What cracks me up is every single time we get report and ask a question, the response from the hospital nurse is "I don't know, this is the first day I had him/her"!

Do you REALLY mean that? I can't imagine that EVERY SINGLE TIME you call you get this response. So many of the LTC nurses state how busy they are in LTC. Well acute care is busy too. We're all busy and should stop trashing each other!! I've never had to make this statement to a NH, but yes, sometime you don't get every bit of info in report and just don't have a lot of time to view everything in the chart. Certainly I would expect them to look for the answers for you if they are important questions.

Do you REALLY mean that? I can't imagine that EVERY SINGLE TIME you call you get this response. So many of the LTC nurses state how busy they are in LTC. Well acute care is busy too. We're all busy and should stop trashing each other!! I've never had to make this statement to a NH, but yes, sometime you don't get every bit of info in report and just don't have a lot of time to view everything in the chart. Certainly I would expect them to look for the answers for you if they are important questions.

Yes, I really mean that. That is nothing I hold against the nurse, but rather against a system that needs help, just as long term care is a system needing help. Don't take it personally. :) There aren't enough nurses to go around and not enough money to provide the care we want to provide in any venue!

I am a RN at a hospital. I cannot speak for all hospital nurses, but I do give ALL that info, plus more AND before hanging up I ask the nurse at the ECF if they have any questions they would like to ask, and give them the unit phone number in case they think of anything later.