Monthly summaries

[dianette]

Do you still use monthly summaries? Our form appears to be busy work, I wonder how helpful it is to the staff. I'll ask the nurses, but what is everyone else's practice? What do surveyors think? Anyone in Indiana?

Thanks,

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

Yes, I am in Indiana. We use monthly summaries (which is pretty generic checkoff boxes), but on the back of the form we address the careplan and their responses to goals/interventions. This is a regulatory complaince.

[caliotter3]

We did weekly summaries when I worked in LTC. There were some monthly forms but those were dealt with by the supervisors. This was years ago and in CA. Have no idea how things have changed. BTW, most weekly summaries were useless as written. I put effort into mine, a lot because I was in learning mode and I cared about everything, even repetitive paperwork.

[BoopetteRN]

We still do monthly summaries, but we do not have a check off sheet. We use the care plan and address whether the goals are being met or not. Since the team leaders do not attend the care plan conferences it gives the unit and MDS coordinators an idea of what the resident can and can not do. I live in Illinois and yes the surveyors do use the information

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I have worked at the same long term care facility for the past year and a half. Our long term care units still use monthly summaries, and our short term rehab units use weekly summaries, because most of our rehab patients will be discharged before a full month comes around. The vast majority of these forms consist of check-off boxes.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

We do monthly summaries on everyone. Only the ones for patients on Medicaid are really scrutinized since they are what determines our rate of reimbursement for those patients, but the nurse in charge of that is always worried that someone will come in Med A and then convert to Medicaid. I think it's a waste of time to do them on short term residents. We are charting daily on the Medicare and Managed Care patients. How redundant to then write a monthly summary.

[mercy1975]

Do you still use monthly summaries? Our form appears to be busy work, I wonder how helpful it is to the staff. I'll ask the nurses, but what is everyone else's practice? What do surveyors think? Anyone in Indiana?

Thanks,

One of the state regs for Iowa was to do the monthly summary. Iowa then sent out a memo that these were not necessary. The nursing home I consult for do weekly summaries which is more time consuming.

I still like the monthly summary rule. Even if you don't do the summaries your documentation, nurses notes, better be complete enough to "show" a picture of the resident, what has happened to them, and what has been done, and progress made.

[txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN]

i hate monthly summaries ...i mean hate. especially when i have to do them for a patient that is not on my hall, because i feel like i don't know them well enough to put all the correct info on there. at my work place we have the nursing fbi checking ours so it's gets returned if we have any missing holes. y'all do know they use your monthly summaries for reimbursement purposes. oh i just found out that my boss is a member here, so about the fbi comment...just showin ya some love marilyn.....

[Ari RN, BSN, RN]

I also HATE monthly summaries. We basically summarize whether there were any medical changes to our residents. We have NO computers or check off lists. We basically write a long nurses note of what occured during the past month.

[star2nite2000]

I hate doing monthly summarys for the simple fact that I work nights and mostly only observe them sleeping!

[KerryD]

Can you send me a copy of your check off list. I work in a LTC facility here in Maine and were are still writing multi page notes. [email protected]

[217shana]

Monthly summaries at our facility are part of the policy and procedure. The state does not require a monthly summary. They just state that you have to show that the patient is being assessed for changes in their needs on a routine basis. I guess the monthly summary is the best way to do it. What I have found is that most people do not know how to do them currently and the majority will just copy the previous one or just continue to state the problem and do not address whether or not the current approaches are appropriate and that the patient is meeting the goals that have been set.