Help I got a bad review from a consultant

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 19, 2017

I don't understand your situation. Can you explain it a little more clearly? Are you a new manager of a patient care unit ... and also the facility's new Infection Control Nurse? If the management job is going well, why are you being asked to take another job? If the Infection Control department is not meeting standards, why are they blaming you, the new person? And why would that effect your management job?

Or is it just that you are the new Manager of Infection Control -- and that's not going well?

I'm confused

caliotter3 · Jul 19, 2017

This could be your first step out the door. Maybe you should brush off the resume and start a job search. Beat the employer to the punch.

Shamoo · Jul 20, 2017

There are 3 mangers at this facility. Extra duties have been added to each of us . One manager is the wound nurse and has a unit, another does MDS, I do infection control. The whole thing is the consultant and I discovered that the nurses are not doing the appropriate care plans. I regret asking her to look at my report. Now I don't even want to ask any questions about anything. It's like being a new grad that is being bullied.

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 20, 2017

If you don't have a supervisor you can go to for support and advice about how to fix the Infection Control problems ... I would start job-hunting. You are too new in your position to be expected to solve the Infection Control problems without a supportive supervisor. If you feel the job is worthy saving ... make contact with other Infection Control specialists/managers at similar facilities, join their professional association, read their journal, etc. Use that negative consultant report to get funding from your supervisor for a couple of site visits to other, similar facilities so that you can see how they do things, etc. They need to invest in your education if they want you to do the job right. If they are not willing to do that ... that's a really bad sign and you should leave. (But find a new job first before you resign -- keep the income coming)

Shamoo · Jul 21, 2017

I think your right I start my job search Friday. It's to hard to work for /with folks you feel uncomfortable around.

feelix, RN · Jul 22, 2017

Remember, when things go wrong, most facilities would like heads to roll rather than take responsibility and correct things. You have made the right decision to look for another job.

HeySis, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2017

Any consultant worth having would have been able to give you detailed information on what was wrong with the infection control program and some direction in how to fix it. Rather then going to your boss and asking for you to be removed they should have asked for you to be trained and given resources (conferences, written education, e-seminars and the CMS rules regarding infection control in LTC (you mentioned MDS's, so I'm thing it's LTC)

There was a new rule update that went into effect March 2017 (483.80 Infection Control) it can be found here https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_pp_guidelines_ltcf.pdf This is what the surveyors use to determine if you are meeting the rules to be reimbursed by Medicare/Medicaid. If you are doing everything in these rules and can prove it, you're golden. The problem comes in when you either 1. don't know the rules. 2. don't understand what the rule is asking, 3. don't know how to show on paper that you are following the rules. Consultants are meant to help those three things.

If your employer will not spend the time and money on getting you up to date and trained, I would find one that will.