Resident Care Coordinator

[Nurse Amy Jolie]

Hello everyone,

I am being interviewed for the second time tomorrow for the Resident Care Coordinator. I dont know what to expect. First interview went well and I am scared for the second one, which is with the executive director!!!. Is anybody out there can tell more on the key responsabilities of a Resident Care Coordinator. How Can I win this interview. I really want to work with Brookdale senior living. Anybody worked with them before. Please help. Any input will be helpful. How to handle a second interview?

Amy

[didi768]

I was hired at a facility, made to be the DON's best friend and then once hired she would not even LOOK at me or ask how I was doing. Like she never knew me. Out of there as fast as I could I was.

[LadyinScrubs, ASN, RN]

Residential Care Director is a title most often used in assisted living facilities. The care business model employed is not a medical model. There probably is no RN on staff--there may be a corporate RN who oversees numerous facilities and available by phone.

Med techs pass meds -- definition of med tech: unlicensed personnel who took an 8 hr med course). The Residential Care Director --usually an LVN-- has direct responsibility over the med tech and the caregivers. If there is a severe health problem or emergency, the Residential Care Director does no hands on care (not even CPR). Instead, they are to contact the paramedics, and the resident is transported to the ED.

There is only one national Alzheimer's facility (owned by a corporation) that is a has an RN on staff 24/7 who oversees the resident's care. Their care model is a combo of SNF and Alzheimer's assisted living. The RN is responsible for admission (often going to other geropsych hospitals who has a pt on a 5150 r/t AD behavior. The RN will do the assessment and oversee the transfer to her facility), and other higher level nursing duties. The LVNs pass meds, keep track of orders, talk to doctors, etc. The caregivers do direct care. The administrator is responsible for the day to day businness management of the facilty. There is a sales director who is a geriatric specialist (often a med social worker) who works with the families of potential residents and provides info about what the facility can do for their loved one.

What makes this facility different from other AD or assisted living facility is the resident's health, vitals, weight, etc. are monitored. Should the resident start to lose weight, r/t constant wandering or lack of appetite, every effort is made to increase intake and appetite. The facility has a 4-star chief; very helpful in increasing food intake.

The residents are on the least amount of psychotropic meds to manage their behavior. Often the resident comes into the facility over medicated because the family could not deal with the behavior. The RN is responsible for carefully decreasing the psychotropic meds and stablilizing the client. Instead of over medicating residents, the facility uses distraction, activities and 1-on-1 care to keep the resident from acting out and happy. The facility is an open facility(residents are free to wander throughout the large facility and grounds. Everything is fenced, gated and locked). There is no segregation according to AD stages. Safety and security is a high concern.

This care model is labor intensive and the cost is far more expensive than an other assisted living facility/Alzheimer's facility, which are already expensive.

The question is: what type of business model is your facility operating under. That will explain what your duties are..

[debRN0417]

Years ago when I was a Resident Care Coordinator, it was the same as being what is now most often referred to as a Unit Manager or Unit Coordinator- EXCEPT- I was responsible for staffing, Care plans (at that time there was no MDS- believe it or not), all admissions, assessments, and yes-oh-yes- filling in when they were short staffed on the unit. Lovely.....more time passing pills than Coordinating, and yes-oh-yes was required to do off shifts as needed...more lovely....

[Nurse Amy Jolie]

Thank you all for responding.

Wanted to let you know that I got the resident care coordinator position with Brookdale Senior Living. It is an assisted living of approx 50 Residents. As a new grad, I am not too familiar with new resident admission or disccharge. Can anybody please tell me the steps involved during new admission? or discharge? What paperworks are involved? Any input will be helpful.

Amy

[debRN0417]

The facility should have some standard documents they use.

[katandbrad]

How do you like your position as Resident Care Coordinator? I will be interviewing with dept heads in Feb for Director of Resident Care position in south carolina at an ALF. I am curious too about the pay, as salary was not discussed during my interview with the Executive Director.

[Nurse Amy Jolie]

The Resident Care Coordinator is a rewarding position. There is a lot to learn and to do, but I love every single minute of it. Regarding salary, it depends in which state you are, but be willing to negotiate. Best of luck

[Raefabian4]

I have had 2 interviews already and am waiting as we speak for a phone call from the VP for my 3rd interview for the Resident Care Coordinator position in a PA ALF facility that has approximately 107 beds. I have worked as a Director of Wellness about 14 years ago and loved the job. I am beyond excited to start this challenge. I think you have to be a very organized, self-motivated person to be a good Director of an ALF and be willing to put time and effort into making a great staff and once you do that, you will be running a great facility! I was wondering what everyone else made salary wise and if they got bonuses and how much they were.

[217shana]

I once held the title of resident care coordinator and the position included everything from rounding with the physician, to being supervisor for a unit of 50 patients, attending care plan meetings, trouble shooting family complaints, taking call, assisting with state surveys, fall committee chairperson, performance improvement chairperson, employee health nurse, facility immunization nurse, restorative nurse coordinator, infection control practioner, and inservice coordinator. I also had to reconcile doctor's orders at the end of the month. Did I mention I was the only LPN with this much responsibility. I also had to do anything else that may have been designated.

[Daisypower2]

I am currently working as a RCC at Brookdale in memory care ALF. Being a RCC is NOTHING like being a regular LPN. It is not a fancy name for slingin meds. Most of the job is paper work, management of staff (caregivers, med aides). Making schedules, ordering supplies, dealing with families and potential move ins. There is a RN in some buildings.. who handle mostly the admit assesments... and quartly assessments. But EVERYTHING else is basically the RCC job. There is a lot of room to move up in the company if you want to stay administrative. But if you are more of a hands on type of nurse who likes to perform the skills learned in school.. this is not the job for you. It is high stress, and alot of work, with a lot of responsibility. I believe folks when they say the average shelf life for a RCC is about 1 year. I have been there for about 6 months and I am feeling the burn out. It is a VERY stressful job, but... I am in it for the long haul. I would like to be a ED one day.

[didi768]

Brookdale is in what state please?

Thanks!

[stardust80916]

I think Nurse Amy Jolie meant QMAP. Which is a qualified medication administration person.