MDS Job Offer-Need Advice

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Dec 14, 2005

Hi. I am an MDS nurse in NW Indiana. I am an RN and make $21/H. Just graduated 6 mo ago tho - as an LPN w/ same job made $19.28. Our staff LPN's make around $16-18 depending upon experience. I would definately want hourly pay. They always manage to screw salary staff - make you cover the floor then ya gotta get the MDS's done on your off time, make you take call and come in on days off for free, etc, etc. Good luck on the job.

Bird2 · Dec 14, 2005

I posted in the LTC forum but wanted to ask what kind of training would they give you? The MDS position is an awesome responsibility so congratulations on the offer and good luck. Keep us posted.

jaimemds · Dec 14, 2005

Also LPN and currently making 21/hour in southeast Ohio. If you are able to push for extra tools i owuld suggest the MDS 2.0 book from briggs. They send you undates to the manual automatically. i would also suggest a membership to AANAC, American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators, this site give you updates daily, there is also a forum of other MDS nurses that you can ask q's or bounce around ideas. Good Luck!

fluffwad · Dec 15, 2005

Absolutely get a membership in AANAC and take their education modules. Get your administrator to send you to extra training.................if you don't understand the regs very well, you could end up in the same boat as the last MDS nurses. Refer to the RAI manual until you have it memorized, and even then refresh your memory often.

It is absolutely necessary to stay up to date with the regulation changes, which happen 3-4 times a year lately.

MDS is one of those jobs where obsessive tendencies are a bonus. It is not just an easy desk job.

I agree with the comment about staying hourly.......the folks who go salary are always the ones required to do the extra time.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2005

MDS is a very awesome responsbility. The MDS form is submitted directly to Medicare and on every single patient in the facility, not just the Medicare (skilled) patients. The reimbursement that your facility will receive for it's Medicare (skilled) patients is directly related to the information that Medicare gets off the MDSs you submit. This is why I say it's an awesome responsiblity to do these. They require a knowledge of the patients and there is supposed to be charting to back up the assessments you make of the patients on the MDS forms. If your facility nurses aren't good about charting, the facility is going to get screwed on reimbursement anyway. Other disciplines in the hospital (dietary, PT, activities) are also supposed to have input on these documents. They have to be submitted in a timely fashion, no back logging allowed. Most MDS nurses I know are also involved doing the care plans (the long official ones) because the two are kind of related. The only time I ever saw our MDS nurses were when they got recruited to work the floors on holidays. Otherwise, they pretty much stayed holed up in their offices madly working on these things.

nursediz · Dec 17, 2005

I appreciate all of your guys input. Another nurse I know and I are teaming up and taking over. We had a meeting today with the DON and ADON and recieved the MDS 2.0 Users Manual and it is the Briggs corp one.

What is good is that the DON know that the 2 of us are kind of going into it blindly. Right now we are just auditing the charts and etc. Alot of them haven't had careplans reviewed/updated in 6-12 months...yikes. But, from the DON's understanding...the facility is just going to have a desk review regarding the tags they got from state and we won't be responsible for backpeddling...that we are going to be responsible from the date she submits our plan of change.

also, training wise...the ADON has a lot of experience in MDS and is going to give us some training and we have somebody from corportate to come in Tuesday for an all day inservice. They put me in charge of finding a 'bootcamp' to go to....

and, it IS going to be hourly...whoosh....i didn't have to push for that tho thank goodness...it was already set up as hourly. and...without either of us saying anything...she informed us that we would not be pulled to the floor.

and i will check out that site you were telling about. :-D I really do appreciate ya'll input...:-D

THANKS!

catlady, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2005

Who is going to verify and sign the MDS? It requires signatures of RNAC in several places, and their license/freedom are literally on the line every time they sign. There has to be a lot of trust for an RN to sign the LPN MDS coordinator's work--but I hope it works out for you.

Midwest4me · Dec 17, 2005

..whoosh....i didn't have to push for that tho thank goodness...it was already set up as hourly. and...without either of us saying anything...she informed us that we would not be pulled to the floor.

and i will check out that site you were telling about. :-D I really do appreciate ya'll input...:-D

That's good that the DON says you won't be pulled to the floor---did she put that in writing? You might want it in writing---because once you're short-staffed or she gets displeased with somthing, she could go back on her word and there you are having to do the MDS and floor work, as mentioned by another nurse on this forum---I really hope it doesn't happen, but I HAVE seen it happen. I wish you all the best in this new job!:)