ltcconsultant

I actually attended a conference session once on something very similar: variable acuity patient rooms. It was a slightly larger private room that was wired the same way an ICU room was -- extra O2 and suction inlets, more electrical outlets, dimma...

The only thing I used for the nursing concepts test was Kaplan's NCLEX review. I also went to the library right before a test and flipped through an appropriate text just to look at the pics and diagrams (I am a strong visual learner). I also got u...

Just found this terrific resource a few minutes ago -- apparently AHIMA has created a documentation and medical records manual for long term care and made the thing freely available on their website at http://www.ahima.org/infocenter/guidelines/ltcs/...

CapeCodMermaid is right. Your documentation needs to serve as evidence of justification for the level of care being provided, which is going to be more important for skilled units. Charting also needs to reflect the care plan. There are several bo...

Dream'n, I agree with you wholeheartedly. What I see as a major problem is that nursing homes don't even make an attempt to understand the law. They don't realize that the MDS can legally replace at least a half-dozen other assessments (MDS 3.0 app...

IMHO, culture change doesn't happen when a facility fully embraces the Eden Alternative and totally redesigns the place. Culture change happens when administration stops acting like a-holes (from the front line staff's perspective) and the front lin...

I have some stuff on human factors in patient safety violations and on coaching supervision. PM or email me if you would like me to share.

I would start off by asking her how things are going at work. After shutting up and listening, I would then bring up the incident about the vital signs in a non-judgmental manner and then say something along the lines of "I imagine there must be som...

CMS has a free online training program at http://www.cmstraining.org/. There is a section there on how to work with PPS. Also go to http://www.providers.ipro.org/index/nhqi-conferences-mds and listen to the mp3s from Andrea Platt's MDS boot camp.

I have an infection control manual for NHs that was created by a state health department. It's about 150 or so pages. Send me a PM or email and I'll send you a copy.

The State of Kansas has a regulatory compliance newsletter for nursing homes in that state. http://www.agingkansas.org/ProviderInfo/Newsletters/Sunflower/2005Jan.pdf has the MDS requirements for a restorative program on pages 8-10. It is titled "MD...

Last year I found a document on the internet called "The Restorative Nursing Toolkit" that was a 50 some odd page manual put out by one of the QIOs. It was a great resource that provided all the information you might possibly need about restorative ...

The TN Healthcare Facilities Commission regulates CNAs, and they will allow to challenge the CNA test without actually taking a CNA course if you provide transcripts from a LPN or RN program that shows you have completed a "fundamentals of nursing" o...

CMS has online MDS training at http://www.mdstraining.org/ . You have to register but it's free. IPro, which is New York State's quality improvement organization had Andrea Platt (one of the big MDS gurus) to do a workshop a couple of years ago and...

In the summer of 2006, CMS significantly revised the activities rules and require a very detailed assessment and emphasis on individualized activities and a de-emphasis on groups. They are only now starting to really enforce it. With the new psychoso...

I was at a MDS training session with Andrea Platt two years ago and one of the things she mentioned is that a lot of the assessments being done are redundant because they are already included as part of the MDS. I did look this up in the RAI manual ...

This is to those of you have either eliminated CNA documentation or reduced to the bare minimum (meal consumption and BM): Have you noticed any adverse effects from it? Also, has anyone tried cutting nursing documentation down to the bare minimum?

I got my CPHQ in the summer of 2007 and I thought it was the most difficult test I had ever taken in my life. I googled every topic listed on the content outline in the candidate's handbook and read an AHIMA book, "Quality and Performance Improvem...

http://www.4nursingmanagers.com/Policies/rn/asp/ID.30/pt/ViewInCat.htm this website has some really good joint commission stuff, although some of it is a bit dated.

Most help-wanted websites for nurses have at least one or two QI positions available. Additionally, you could check the websites for either the National Association for Healthcare Quality (http://www.nahq.org) or find a website for your state health...