Restorative Care Program

[patricianyc]

I am a recent grad (August) and was just hired at a LTC facility to take over and improve their Restorative Care program. It is still new, and they are looking for an overhaul. Obviously, since I haven't worked yet I'm a bit surprised they hired me. I do have life experience - I'm in my mid 30's, two children, etc.

This is my first week. The DON has been great, and told me when she offered me the job that she would take a few months to slowly ease me into the position, both from a clinical standpoint and filling the supervisor/manager role;.that she wanted to give me sufficient training.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this type of a program? I have been doing some research and I see that it is a pretty broad field with many different approaches. I do not have managerial experience other than the fact that our family runs a business and I have had my hand in it off and on throughout the years. I would appreciate any insight!!

[CNM2B201?]

When I worked as a cna in LTC they had a restorative program..it really just consisted of daily group exercise/movement/stretches (as much as they could do any of those activities) and one on one with certain residents.

[Nurse Mentor Nancy, MSN, RN, NP]

Look at getting this book to learn about restorative nursing in long term care: The Long-Term Care Restorative Nursing Desk Reference By Barbara Acello

Ask the DON what the issues were with the current program so you can focus on correcting them. You will also need to work closely with the MDS coordinator so that your program meets the criteria so she can code it on the MDS (I assume you are in a skilled nursing facility) and you can get a higher reimbursement.

[patricianyc]

Absolutely, Nancy. A big part of my job will be MDS and I have been trained on that in the last couple of days. My replacement has not been gone very long, and I do plan on asking questions and doing my research to improve the currently implemented program.

I'm trying to determine how much time I should be spending on patient interaction/staff/paperwork, etc. This is all very new to me and I want to do a good job. Thank you so much for the book- I will certainly check it out!