I still feel new

[IB1nurse]

I went into MDS nursing a year and a half ago after 15 years of clinical nursing and 10 years of Hospital Case Management for our hospital's 20 bed SNF. We do not do long-term care, only skilled in a more Sub-acute setting. Our average LOS is 25 days. The MDS coordinator left suddenly and they had a part time nurse doing the assessments up until I got the job. I guess they were desperate, because the only experience I had at the time was simply knowing what an MDS was from a SNF I once worked for part time. I got 2 days of MDS orientation from the part-time nurse and then I took the AANAC course and I was on my on. While I am a pretty good self-starter and catch on pretty fast, I haven't reached a point where I feel completely like I really know what I'm doing yet. We haven't had any payment issues or denials so far, but I'm terrified that I have either been doing something I wasn't supposed to, or worse, not doing something I should be doing, and will cause the SNF problems. I've read the RAI manual, but the thing reads like a brain surgery manual to me most days. I have absolutely no one in our facility to ask for information or clarity in certain situations, because they don't even know as much as I do. I've often wished for a SEASONED MDS coordinator to shadow with for a few days and get answers in plain English just to make sure I am doing what I should be, and not doing what I shouldn't be. Aside from the AANAC certification, are there any other courses, classes, programs, etc... in Texas that I should look into, or any mentoring groups available for shadowing?

[andy3k]

Your state MDS RAI and Automation Coordinators are important sources of MDS answers for your questions. Their contact information can be found in Appendix B of the RAI Manual. For Texas, you can find them at the bottom of this email.

If you have not visited your state MDS website then do so. The Texas DADS MDS website has a lot of information for helping you with MDS-related topics, quality and process improvement, and links to other very helpful MDS resources (including other links to many of the other state MDS sites). The Document Library has documents you can't find anywhere else. The MDS Mentor newsletter is particularly useful, including clinical and technical articles related to MDS. The website is: www.dads.state.tx.us/providers/MDS/

If your state has an email list for MDS information then sign up for it. If you are not personally signed up to receive Texas DADS MDS e-mail updates then I recommend that you get signed up. The MDS RAI and Automation Coordinators use the list to occasionally send out educational material and important news and alerts related MDS. This is an important way to stay up-to-date with new information, updates, and alerts related to MDS. Go to www.dads.state.tx.us (the DADS homepage), click on the tab "E-mail updates" and subscribe. You may select any of the e-mail update lists that you like but the one you really want to have a check mark next to is the "DADS Texas Minimum Data Set (MDS) Resources" list. Don't forget to click the "Save" button at the bottom.

The CMS MDS 3.0 Training Materials website has information regarding MDS 3.0, training videos on the various MDS sections, as well as the most current MDS 3.0 RAI Manual. You must be using the July 2011 version of the MDS RAI Manual. The link for the CMS MDS 3.0 Training Materials is: http://www.cms.gov/NursingHomeQualityInits/45_NHQIMDS30TrainingMaterials.asp

The www.QTSO.com website has an MDS 3.0 link that takes you to the MDS 3.0 Provider User's Guide. The guide explains how to submit your MDS data and pull your reports. Chapter 5 is the most important part of the guide and explains the various errors and warnings you may get on your MDS validation report and what you can do about them.

Andy Alegria

Texas MDS Automation Coordinator

RAI Manual Chapter 2, Chapter 3 Sections A & X, Chapter 5 & 6, CASPER reports including validation reports and QM reports

Cheryl Shiffer, BSN, RN, RAC-CT

Texas MDS Clinical Coordinator

RAI Manual Chapter 1, Chapter 3 Sections B - Z, Chapter 4

Contact info: http://www.dads.state.tx.us/providers/MDS/contact.html