Any acute care state hospital surveyors

elkpark · Nov 15, 2017

Welcome to allnurses! :balloons:

I was an acute hospital surveyor for my state and CMS for several years a while back (in the early 2000's), but am not currently doing that.

lawada · Nov 15, 2017

What was the job like?? Did you enjoy it??

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Nov 15, 2017

When JACHO surveyors are on the floor it is not uncommon for the isolation patient to get primo extended care whenever possible until the surveyor finds the exit!

elkpark · Nov 16, 2017

I enjoyed it v. much until some changes were made in the leadership of my specific team and everything sort of went sideways. It's not as easy a job as it looks when you're being surveyed. It requires excellent attention to detail, excellent writing skills, excellent logic and critical thinking skills, and an ability to communicate effectively with everyone from CNAs and clients to hospital CEOs and attorneys. In my case, there was a lot of travel, usually at least two (consecutive) nights away from home per week, sometimes as much as four nights (leave town on Monday and return on Friday), lots of staying in hotels. We usually surveyed during regular business hours, but, if a complaint involved evening or night shift, we were in the hospital on evening or night shift to interview staff and make observations. You write long, detailed reports that have to be able to stand up in administrative court if the facility disputes them, and you could possibly be required to testify in court about your findings and defend your report in court.

In my agency in my state (not saying that would necessarily apply anywhere else, just speaking to my own experience), we had a core of surveyors who had been there a long time, and had a lot of turnover because new people took positions and quickly figured out that this really wasn't for them. A lot of people apparently weren't expecting the amount of travel (didn't really believe what they were told in the interview process?) and found that really didn't work for them once they were in the job.

Again, though, I really enjoyed my position for a number of years, and really enjoyed most of the people I worked with. I found most of them to be knowledgeable, skilled, and motivated about advocating for citizens of the state (which is what you're really doing in these positions) and doing a good job, not at all the clichÃ©s you hear about state employees (I had had no idea what to expect when I took the position after many years in clinical practice).

Best wishes!