Any Registered Nurses that are state surveyors???

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Hello, I am wondering if there are any RN's out there, that work for the state as a surveyor and if you like your job? Can you tell me a little about your job? I have 20 yrs. of nursing experience as a LPN and RN mainly in LTC. Two years ago I began working with the state in our local VA nursing home, and looking to eventually change pathways, within the state. The state retirement benefits are GREAT!!! Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in psych, ambulatory care, ER.

I am a registered nurse and a State surveyor. I love-love-love my job. I enjoy the different experiences, and no two days are the same. I love meeting people and learning new things. There is a lot of travel involved, so it's probably not a position for someone with small children at home or someone who's afraid to fly. Yes, the benefits are great and I don't wish to do anything else.

oldladyRN

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I worked as a state surveyor for my state for several years and really enjoyed it (until we got a new, really incompetent and problematic supervisor, and everyone in my team left after that). As oldladyRN noted, the job involves a lot of travel -- in my team, we were on the road, staying in a hotel away from home, at least a couple days (nights) a week, every week. Sometimes we were away four or five days in a week. Sometimes an urgent situation arose in a hospital that required us to drop what we were doing, change our plans for the week, and leave for a survey later than day or first thing the following morning. For the most part, though, if you don't mind the travel and being away from home a lot, it was a great job. It's definitely not for everyone.

I surveyed acute care hospitals -- one of my team members had previous experience surveying nursing homes, and he talked alot early on about how surveying in nursing homes was a lot more "adversarial" than he was finding the acute care hospital surveying to be. He talked about surveyors getting their tires slashed and other kinds of threatening, hostile experiences in surveying at nursing homes -- however, I don't know how widespread that sort of thing is.

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

Where do I sign up?

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I also work as a state surveyor and enjoy it so far..I went from acute care hospital setting to a LTC surveyor. I travel quite a bit and am away from home 2-3 days per week. I cannot trade however the benefits and different type of stress that I encounter in this job compared to what I previously was doing. It's rewarding in a different type of way!

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I use to be one and a former trainer of surveyors. As already mentioned it requires travel but differently is different every month. It really helped me develop my writing skills and keep up to date with nursing practices without working 12 hour shifts on the floor. What I enjoyed the most was changing outcomes for elderly.

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This line of work fascinates me. I am 40 years old and just starting college.( I waited until my youngest started high school ) I'm doing my pre-reqs now for nursing. What steps do I take to get into this line of work? I'm wanting to be a nursing home surveyor. Just about everything I have read states that I need to be an RN for at least 2 years. What classes in addition to nursing should I be taking?

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I wonder how many dirty looks you guys get when you walk into a place...

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I wonder how many dirty looks you guys get when you walk into a place...

In my own experience, not many. My regular survey partner and I had a reputation across the state for being "firm but fair" -- the facilities we surveyed consistently knew that we would find anything there was to find (any deficiencies) and advocate vigorously for clients, but they would get a fair shake and be treated with courtesy and collegiality. Staff or administrators felt v. comfortable picking up the 'phone and calling us about any question they had about interpretation of rules or a situation that had arisen in their facility -- I took that as a sign that we had good relationships with "our" facilities.

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Specializes in Functional Medicine, Holistic Nutrition.
I worked as a state surveyor for my state for several years and really enjoyed it (until we got a new, really incompetent and problematic supervisor, and everyone in my team left after that). As oldladyRN noted, the job involves a lot of travel -- in my team, we were on the road, staying in a hotel away from home, at least a couple days (nights) a week, every week. Sometimes we were away four or five days in a week. Sometimes an urgent situation arose in a hospital that required us to drop what we were doing, change our plans for the week, and leave for a survey later than day or first thing the following morning. For the most part, though, if you don't mind the travel and being away from home a lot, it was a great job. It's definitely not for everyone.

I surveyed acute care hospitals -- one of my team members had previous experience surveying nursing homes, and he talked alot early on about how surveying in nursing homes was a lot more "adversarial" than he was finding the acute care hospital surveying to be. He talked about surveyors getting their tires slashed and other kinds of threatening, hostile experiences in surveying at nursing homes -- however, I don't know how widespread that sort of thing is.

Hi Elkpark- I'm wondering if you could tell me about career opportunities after being a state surveyor? What avenues does this line of work open up? In particular, I'm wondering if having been a state surveyor can be a stepping stone to being an independent consultant and if a lot of former surveyors go on to have such practices. What do you do now?

I just received a job offer for a state surveyor position. I'm excited, as I've always wanted to do this line of work, but I'm also concerned about the amount of travel required. Did your state provide you with a state vehicle or were you expected to use your own? How many days/week were you in the "office" writing reports, etc? Were you able to complete any work from home?

Thanks for any input!

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Specializes in everywhere.

It is such an awesome job! Yes, there is a lot of travel, but well worth it in the long run. I love, love, love my job and my co-workers. In my experience, most of the nursing positions that I have had were somewhat negative environments. But working as a state surveyor is AWESOME. If you get a chance, go for it.

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Specializes in Functional Medicine, Holistic Nutrition.

I started my job as a state surveyor and I couldn't agree more! It is such a positive working environment and it is the first and only job that I've had where I can truly say that I enjoy going to work everyday!

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