How do you stay organized as a MDS coordinator?

Mrlabrie, ASN, CNA, RN · Mar 2, 2019

every MDS nurse secretly wishes they had ?‍♂️?‍♂️to file the piles lol.

My plan is to someday have the "dramatic walkout/quitting scene" and I will take a huge pile of papers and throw them in the air (like 52 card pick up- or "making it rain" lol). Then I will look awkwardly at my boss for a reaction to see if I can play it off with a laugh off or if I need to keep walking towards the time punch! Seriously though to save my sanity and to keep from being buried alive I have had to adapt- hopefully this will help you brainstorm.

I got a few plastic stackable drawers (the small size so it can slide under a desk ) these are my "to file" drawers I can automatically toss in the non urgent items such as discharges/trackers etc. It keeps the piles and stress at bay & I don't have to dig through unnecessary junk to get to my active/current files. Then periodically (frequency will depend on your facility size/case load etc) my MDS counterpart and I have a regrouping day lol - we set aside a day where we don't schedule ANYTHING (care plans, meetings, assessments etc.) we put on some music and devote the day to our department & MDS IDT-whatever that may be including filing, organizing, planning, etc.

For active/current assess. get alphabetized tabs(heavy duty cardstock work great) and choose whatever works best for you binder/expandable file/ stacking trays.

We keep all of our MDS trackers together in one binder for easy access to the entire team- We ONLY allow the face sheet/and 100 day tracker into this binder.

Thus allowing the illusion of organized medical professionals who've got their lives together. ?‍⚕️