RoseKas

Well, I am happy you still have your job, although surveyors just love to play "Gotcha!" and make our lives more complicated, don't they?! At my last place of employment, they actually wrote up our ICF for not having enough choices of jelly flavors on the dining room table. This was at a house where we employed a professional chef who made amazing meals for our residents. Go figure! I have worked as a nurse consultant, a health services coordinator, and as a DON. Now I've started at a different organization (one with a really good reputation in the field), as a residential director/DON of a 53-bed house (4-units, 2 of which are CP, and we're licensed as an ICF). We are facing a Public Health survey in the next couple of months, and I'm quaking in my boots, because this is my first time as a RD. I'm sure we'll be ok, although God knows what kind of stuff they'll dream up because that's what they do! We just went thru a CARF survey, and seemed to do ok, although that was for the entire organization, and they barely looked at my house. We did get a few recommendations, of course, and our biggie was also community integration and cultural diversity. We're working on that, but haven't gotten the completed report with the decision yet. Thank God for our residents, who make it all worthwhile at the end of the day! The other evening, I stopped into one of our lounges as I made my final rounds, and said goodnight to some of my ladies. Our oldest resident asked me if I was going home then, and I told her I would be going back to my office to finish up a little work first. She said, "I know what! Why don't you bring it here, and we'll ALL do it! And then we'll tell them that YOU did it!!" You gotta love that! :chuckle What a sweetie! Talk to you later! Hope your fine-tooth comb has all of its teeth!

Claver, I read your postings regarding your awful survey, and am wondering how it went for you...do you still have your job??? I've read some of your postings, and can tell you are a wonderful DD nurse, and am hoping things work out ok. We have openings in Chicago, if need be, and would welcome you with open arms. :icon_hug:

i've been in the dd field for quite some time...13 years...and have this suggestion: go to http://www.ddna.org. this is an organization of dd nurses, and there are lots of us out there. maybe someone there can help you. in regards to your particular situation, what state are you in? there are rules and regs in every state that govern what nurses must do for the consumers in an agency such as yours. in illinois, we would call your home a "cila," a community integrated living arrangement. there is a reg in il governing the teaching of medication administration to the staff of such group homes, and it is called rule 115. it is very specific in regards to what is taught to your staff. and, i might add, a nurse should not be the staff who cooks, cleans, etc. for heavens sake, are there no other staff people there??? what you need to do is contact your state agency for developmental disabilities and find out what rules and regs there are for group homes for dd adults. that is the first place for you to go. this agency sounds like it is operating outside of the regs, or at the very least on a shoestring budget that puts your licenses in jeopardy, unless you learn the regs and get it organized to where you do what is within your scope of practice. i truly suggest you get in touch with ddna, because there are dd nurses from every state in the union, i believe, and you should be able to get some help from them. feel free to contact me via email for continuing support. [email protected]. i love this field of nursing, and would hate to see someone leave it too quickly without having had a fair shake at it. it has made my life immeasurably fuller because of all of the incredibly wonderful clients and experiences i have had over the years :flowersfo