rugsarefun

What state do you live in?

Haven't been on in a while ... I too have been very busy trying to figure things out. I own a company and we contract nurses into nursing homes to do MDS' and it's been quite the challenge. Speaking on behalf of 70 nurses, we all hate the 3.0. The interview timing is a big problem, especially w the favorable weather we've been having lately. The discharges are a nightmare, we leave those for dead last unless we have to do it because someone needs an entry. The CAA's are ridiculous and I wasn't too worried about them until the Federal Surveyors just cited a competitor on CAA's ... so much for giving us time to get the swing of things. Our state MDS Coordinators don't have a clue. They have been giving Q&A sessions in which we ask a question and they write it down to give to CMS (who they claim has yet to answer any). They can't answer ANYTHING. Frustrating to say the least. Throw some software vendor issues in the mix and it's enough to drive anyone insane Oh, and I can't even get started about the waste of trees ...... grrrrr.

I am a business owner in Indiana and hire nurses. Frankly, I don't hire "on-line" grads. I'm sure I'll probably hear all about it now too, lol, but I wanted to give you an honest answer. I might consider it for the MSN program because by this time you should have at least some nursing experience but I never hire nurses from on line programs for LPN/RN. I have in the past and while I'm sure there are great nurses that have graduated from the online programs, I have yet to find one ... so I guess you could say I'm done looking. Great question ... I'm interested to see what other responses you get. Best of luck.

HiTech sucks. I feel sorry for anybody else who uses it

I totally agree with Susan. One month is no way near doable. I manage 70 MDS Coordinators and we (my team-mates and I) feel it takes at least 2 years to really know the job. We aren't even close to being done with orientation in one month. Good luck.

I've done AANAC as well and I would recommend it. I did a different one about 8 or 9 years ago through a different agency and it required a certain number of CEU's each year through their company (which was very expensive), so I would check into if there are any requirements to remain certified.