Preparing for "State"---what does your facility do? Inservices, reading?

[nervousnurse]

I'm new to SNF..... Lately, EVERYthing is about "STATE"......random things we're SUPPOSED to know, but there's no way to know all of it without inservices, reading materials, etc. Lately I've been asking everyone many questions, but I want to know the TRUE answers!!! I realize I can do a google search, but thought I'd also ask those of you who have actually been through it!

One thing I'd really like to ask those of you who've been through an inspection (and I realize every state is different!), what about HANDWASHING in residents' rooms? I almost ALWAYS use their sink; otherwise it is a longgg way to the nearest employee bathroom, which would really interfere with my time management. Not only that, on the way to said employee bathroom (or I go to a utility or shower room to wash), inevitably, I will encounter a resident who needs something, yet my hands aren't clean yet.

Sooo, I use the resident's sinks, yet, many times, their personal items such as drinking cups, denture cups, toothbrushes, etc, are DIRECTLY under the soap dispenser, so of course I move those items, but this just seems to me to be something "STATE" wouldn't like.

I'd appreciate input on this or ANY other details with "State".....it is ALLLLL my boss rants about lately! Oh, and we keep hearing how "such and such will cause us to have a five thousand dollar fine!".....or "we had to pay a 100,000 fine for _____ a couple years ago!"......why the HECK are these fines so HIGH????? Is "JACHO" this bad/ strict????

[nervousnurse, ASN]

Thanks for the replies---I think it's a GREAT idea to do a MOCK survey!!! Of course, we can't keep our good CNAs around lately, so I'm afraid by the time we have our survey, it will be mostly agency CNAs. I hope the agencies that hire the CNAs assure that they know all of the proper techniques, know how to answer questions from State, etc.....

I'm still noticing WAYYYY too many blanks in the TARS and Behavior Book...The boss continually threatens with write-ups, but nothing is working--State is going to have a field day with all those blanks! The bosses are already SO stressed from a recent *surprize* visit where we got 3 tags.....I can't imagine how the actual survey is going to go....

[nervousnurse, ASN]

oh, and thank you for the reminder to search other threads, Amo. I thought I did that before I posted, but either didn't find any, OR, they didn't come up....thanks again! :)

Oh, and Staff Development person---we don't have one! LOL!

[petuniaRN67]

I am an RN supervisor in LTC facility in TN. We are 'State' ready every day. If you operate every day within your facilities policies & procedures and state guidelines, then you have nothing to worry about. We had our annual survey recently and received a 'deficiency free' survey. I have worked in other facilities where that wasn't the case and management started going into a frenzy a month before their window opened. My experience in those type facilities is that management doesn't want to deal with issues that come up so they are swept under the rug most of the time. It takes more energy to deal with a problem than to ignore it.

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

... We are 'State' ready every day... We had our annual survey recently and received a 'deficiency free' survey...

Great advice, P. Easy to say, but difficult to pull off every day.

Congrats on your facility's excellent results!

[june90]

When my facility was in the state window everyone was crazy about everything. Honestly all of those personal belongings (toothbrush, dentures, toothpaste) we keep under the sinks in kidney basin and covered denture cups. The actual sink and countertop area should be completely clear from clutter or anything for that matter. If you do this you won't have to worry about touching anything when you wash your hands. I was followed by state for my med pass (3rd year in a row) and they are crazy about hand washing. Such a simple thing to do. They will try to make you nervous and once they sense fear they will be all over you. Just stay calm and remember everything must be "done by the book."