QualityNurseRN

Interesting, thanks for that information. I did finally wise up and start using the read receipt function on the secure email system! But I will keep readnotify in my back pocket as well. Could be useful for a number of situations. Another frustrating twist to this story - the number they listed for technical help was a non-working number! I could go on and on with my rant but I guess the healthier thing would be to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all - thanks again for the info!

Hi All, I scoured this site looking for information on companies to work with on insurance assessments, so now that I have some experience in this I thought I would post. In addition to providing info to others I am also interested in hearing others' experiences. I have done a few jobs so far for Lifeplans. While I find the work interesting and fairly easy, I have been extremely disappointed with the ease of submitting assessments and the support from their office staff. I have been requested repeatedly to re-send documents, even though I can see in the secure email system that the original message I sent was never even opened. I have explained the situation to several staff and yet I continue to receive requests to re-send, and even strongly worded emails indicating my assessment is late. So at first the money seemed decent, but now that I am spending so much time trying to submit my assessments, I am beginning to feel it is a waste of time. What have others' experiences been with this company? Have you found any with better support? At this point I am considering not accepting any more assignments with Lifeplans.

Hi All, I have recently started my first job in hospital quality as a Joint Commission coordinator. Please don't throw rotten tomatoes just yet! I paid my dues in med surg (nights no less!) and loved every minute of it- the crazy old ladies, being out straight with two patients crashing while one wants to get up on his new hip and the others have decided to just go in their beds, then staying late to document when you've finally handed them all off. It was an invigorating roller coaster ride that taught me a lot about myself & others. But I always knew I would leave the bedside at some point. My first career was in public health and I knew I needed to somehow find a position that utilized that side of me in order to be truly fulfilled in a career. Well I have finally found it, but I have to say I am incredibly discouraged by many of the comments I hear not just from the nurses at my hospital, but from the nurses on this forum. It is disappointing to hear so many educated, experienced, intelligent people question the value of those whose job it is to keep their eyes on the big picture. We nurses in the quality department work hard to improve patient outcomes on a hospital-wide scale. We keep up with the evidence, and identify trends that could signal problems. We work to improve safety for every patient who walks through our hospital's doors, as well as every employee. My goal is to keep my bedside nursing perspective as I move through my career as "a paper pusher", as I've seen us referred to on this site, so that I can continue to work towards a safer hospital by working WITH the frontline staff - to implement changes that fit INTO your workflow, or IMPROVE your workflow while ALSO improving outcomes for the patient. Anyway, what I would like to know is, deep down do you truly believe that the nurses in the quality department are so terrible? Or are you just venting after a tough 13 hours when you talk trash about us? I truly believe that we can achieve great strides for patients and the nursing profession if we can work together.

It has been my experience that BSN nurses as a group display more professionalism and better critical thinking than ADN nurses. However, I have also had the pleasure of working with a few ADNs and LPNs who were some of the best nurses I've ever worked with. I believe this has more to do with their personalities than their nursing programs. In general, I would say the ADN program has outlived its original purpose. It's time to close those programs down and bring nursing in line with the other health professions. There are too many paths into nursing and it is confusing to the public and our peers in medicine and therapy. Healthcare is becoming more complex every day, we need to ensure the coming ranks are equipped with the basic critical thinking skills that come with a BS. As far as pushing a seasoned and valued ADN out of their job to replace them with an inexperienced BSN- well that does seem silly and counterproductive. I do feel bad for the seasoned ADNs who are caught in the middle. It seems that a competency exam could be easily constructed as a tool for "grandfathering in" the existing ADNs without forcing them all back to school, especially for the older nurses for whom the cost-benefit would not be advantageous.

While I understand that basics of what you are saying, ie "don't judge a book by its cover", it is the thought that you "can do the same exact thing" as a more seasoned nurse with 20 years of patient care experience under his/her belt that worries us! There are things you simply haven't seen, and wouldn't know to anticipate. Safe patient care demands an experienced presence in the mix who can mentor and advise less experienced colleagues.

I'm surprised the home care company does not require that a hoyer lift be used for patients over a certain weight. Many healthcare organization's workman's comp insurance companies are insisting they start incorporating safe lifting practices into their workflows- overhead lifts in hospitals, turning teams, etc. The CNAs absolutely have a right to insist on having the right equipment to do their job safely. I am not sure where to refer you to - perhaps OSHA? The other thing is, we're not just talking about staff safety here. What if these CNAs were to drop the patient due to a back strain or other injury? They need to insist on having the right equipment.