JanM82

My supervisor is the Administrator although she has had the DON complete my yearly evaluations. I think that is changing this year and the administrator is going to do it. Neither one really knows MDS though.

i just posted my question about the cms training website on the aanac listserv and got an answer already! here's the site: http://www.mdstraining.org/upfront/u1.asp i thought it looked really good. hope it helps! janice:yeah: p.s. i just reread your post and maybe you aren't looking for training on the mds process. if not, the aanac site is still extremely helpful with updates, etc.

I get some of my information from our corporate office since we are not provately owned. That helped me a lot when I was new. I am a member of AANAC but have not been certified yet. They have a lot of very helpful information. It is expensive, somewhat, if you decide to join AANAC. About $100. But I find it well worth it. I've also noticed on many of the MDS job postings lately (for instance on CareerBuilders.com) that they are requiring AANAC certification. That should say something for them I suppose. The free subscription for AANAC is about to end, unfortunately. If you can afford it, or your company will pay for it, I think it's well worth it to join. You get helpful information from experts in MDS. I've also seen a really nice tutorial on the CMS website but I don't have the link. I'll see if I can find it and update you later. It's really good for beginners. Good luck! Janice:hngon:

Actually I do report directly to the administrator. But we are a small facility and I think an RN is an RN is an RN if you know what I mean. We're all fair game.

No offense taken really! Just trying to explain how I feel about being on the floor and not really properly trained. Our DON was not enforcing policies, there were no consequences for this particular nurse who called in three out of 4 weekends. Plus this nurse works every Saturday because she has requested every Sunday off and has found someone to split the weekends with her. So every weekend was a problem. I know that staffing is always a problem, especially in SNFs so I do feel for the DON. I'm really torn about the whole thing. I am the type of person who hates to say "no" to anyone and I want to be supportive, that's why I have tried to staff. But it was just so stressful for me that I'm not sure I am willing to do it again. I actually prefer to resign. We shall see what happens.

I too was brand new to MDS when I was hired almost 7 years ago. Prior to me there was not a single person doing the job and frankly it wasn't done correctly. Sure, it took some time to learn the position, I'm still learning every day. But I love my job and everyone else there doesn't have any idea why I do. They all hated it. We're all new at some point.:) I make $28/hr. I have earned 3 weeks vacation after I stuck it out 5 years. One sick day earned per month.

For me it's not just a matter of "sucking it up" when it comes to working the floor. I believe when you're passing medications late and running around like a chicken with your head cut off because you don't know where everything is that it isn't really the best solution in caring for our residents. I don't believe that it really is safe for the residents. They deserve better. I would be working once every fourth week because there was one nurse who called in almost every weekend. I'm not opposed to working hard and taking good care of our residents. My problem is that we don't enforce current attendence policies thereby cutting down on call ins and then we ask staff who aren't trained to work the floor to jump in. I'm not opposed to working hard, I've come in and worked as an aid without complaint. Now that's hard work! I just don't want to risk resident safety and my license. Just my thoughts. Maybe I'm the only one.

At my facility I have recently been approached about being on call for the weekends along with the DON and two other nurses on the MDS team. My concern with this is I have worked there 6 years without orienting to the floor and I don't feel comfortable and am very "rusty" with floor nursing. I did recently attempt a couple of shifts and was very slow. It was awful, honestly. I hate to do a poor job at anything. Now I know that I would get faster if I worked more often on the floor, but quite honestly, that isn't what I want to do. I've been told I can take comp time if I work the weekend but we all know our schedules don't often allow for that. One more thing...we won't get paid for the "on call" time unless we actually have to go in to work. I do feel for the DON who often gets called in to cover call ins but I wish that they would enforce attendence policies that are already in place so that the call ins decrease. We'll see what happens. We haven't actually set up an on call schedule YET. :uhoh21: