Nursing Home Surveyor and Complaint Investigator Position - NYS DOH

[NYCnurse2020]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in pursuing a NYS DOH Nursing Home Surveyor and Complaint Investigator position. Does anyone have experience with this? Pros and cons? I know the salary is terrible, however I believe it's also low stress. Would this position be helpful for future employment? What types of roles would have a desire for surveyor experience? Any thoughts or comments would be helpful. Especially from current or past surveyors.

[amoLucia]

Civil Service!

Not meaning to be silly, but Civil Service has great advantages. More than just money. And it is most likely union.

But one needs to have a Civil Service mindset - it is different. Some people fit in very well, others struggle.

You will need a strong background in LTC. That's in direct clinical practice, but also a knowledge of the myriad of rules & regs applicable to LTC. It will most likely be a process of on going learning. A steep learning curve at that.

As a surveyor, you'd most likely be part of a team, so you will have the advantage of other disciplines to support the team during survey process. An investigator, usually alone, responds to a specific complaint, ie "my Mom's red afghan is missing", "staffing is terrible on the NOC shift", "the pt meals are awful", "I can't get my refund", "my Dad's not getting his 100 days paid care", etc. And then there's the other tough ones.

It is an interesting job to say the least. Good people skills are a necessity as you'd be dealing with facilities' top administration.

Me? I was LTC various roles before retirement. Been through lots of State visits.?

[NYCnurse2020]

@amoLucia thanks for the reply!

I agree with all those. While I am a fairly new nurse, I've climbed the ladder rather quickly. I've primarily worked in leadership roles within LTC, director level. I'm familiar with most rules and regs. However still very much learning every day.

I'm just wondering if this would be a good move for me. How will this appear on my resume. Would it be desirable by future employers? Or would it be looked at negatively?

I'm wondering if there's anyone that worked as a surveyor and what was their next move after. Any regrets?

[amoLucia]

If you're planning to make the gov't position a permanent CAREER move, you've upward mobility possibilities.

And if you've got educational credentials, then you have a really strong future moving up in State government. And remember, tuition reimbursement is often a State bene.

Some transfer from one Division/Dept to another in their upward career travels. And as the job titles increase, so do the salaries.

I've known surveyors who've gone on to individual consulting and seminar presentation endeavors. Some become LNHAs and other private industry top level positions.

Even if one were to be a short term employee (for whatever reason), I'm sure the experience would be an asset to any facility; never negative.

There is one negative I knew of - you could never work for a facility as staff if you were a surveyor (conflict of interest type thing). But again, I knew nurses who would work in the next-door neighbor state part-time to keep their clinical skills.

JMHO

[NYCnurse2020]

I was thinking the same exact thing. I am currently working for two LTC facilities. Director level at one, supervisor at another (per diem). I was told that I would not be able to work at any LTC facility. Additionally if a family member would be placed in a facility, I would not be able to conduct any work on that facility. Both would be a conflict of interest, understandably.

The opportunity seems great, however I have concerns. Decisions, decisions!

[amoLucia]

Something more to think about - out of where would you be working? Albany as the State capital?

I know in New Jersey, Trenton is centrally located for much of Civil Service. Surveyors could pretty much travel to Trenton without toooo much problem, altho the State tried to send staff to agencies somewhat nearby to their home. I say - TRIED. Not always a given. And surveyors were from all over the State.

So travel would have to be considered. Don't know how New York works that issue.

If you have the education & experience (sounds like you do) you have a strong chance for a very good future. Again, I say that Civil Service offers the advantage of secure, stable employment opportunities (think longevity). And with that longevity comes a possibility for early retirement. Then anything else you might want to pursue career-wise.

But if after some time you determined it wasn't working out as you hoped, you could return to private industry. I DO NOT believe that the experience would ever hurt your resume. To me, it would be an asset.

I had training positions in different healthcare areas of State service. And I had family & friends in other areas of State and County service.

There is a personality/mindset that requires strong people skills for public service. There is a lot of XXXXX that goes on, but that happens in all jobs everywhere. So you either like it or you don't - like the military. IN or OUT.

Hope I helped some. Good luck.

[Hoozdo, ADN]

I worked as a surveyor for two years. There are some major cons to the job.

- Extremely low pay. My state did not ever give salary increases either. I worked with some surveyors that had the position for 20 years and only had two raises in that time!

- It is not a "low stress" job. If you are the lead surveyor on a survey it can be very stressful. There is major public speaking, running of meetings, and much drama that you are in control of at the facility you are surveying.

- Constant travel. I was out of town for 5 days every other week. I got tired of living out of a suitcase. Your traveling may vary depending on how big a geographic area your state is.

I can only think of two pros of the job. It is fun to eat out every night when you are out of town. The other pro is the job had excellent benefits.