Team MDS

Understanding that every other person is just as overwhelmed and trying to do their best. I have asked that they do their section first thing in the morning before all the craziness takes over. Umor helps, we divide our time between cursing and laughing at every little thing. Taking turns at supporting each other, hoping that the day never comes when we ALL are in the "down" mode....But we are lucky, we actually like each other and help each other.........99% of the time!

I literally bring food every day, and write thank you notes about my team members individually and e-mail copies to the administrator. He then tells their supervisors or tells them directly exactly what they are doing well. Ir wasn't something we pre-planned but it is working well for morale. Also, I make a big deal of telling people when I make a mistake, like, "Wow, I opened the wrong kind of MDS for Mrs. Jones, " or "I had one rejected because I wrote the wrong thing in the CAA." This lets them feel better about approaching me if they think they made a mistake. (My team consists of about 18 people, in a 180 bed bldg, and I brough LOTS of food to all district mandated conference calls.)

You have to be the "leader" of the group and understanding and patient with their questions and requests..yet you have to firm and positive about keeping in timeframes and staying compliant.

Good luck.

Have had a new part time nurse added to the MDS team, to assist in data collection & entry. She will work over the weekend to help us stay 'afloat'.

wow! great ideas. i love the little thank you cards. i used to do that as patient representative at our hosp. with the docs. they can be..... well you know, sometimes. mentioning our mistakes is good too. i used to email everyone when an assessment or batch of assessments were opened with ARD and cc the admin. then each week, or as needed, i could update list, prioritize which was needed first and by what date. everyone seemed to like that. i'm not sure how i'll do it now at this facility, still trying to feel my way.

i am fortunate enough to be working with someone who is so very much like me it is scarey. sometimes i don't like looking in the mirror, but we laugh, oh we laugh until we cry. i think humor is the key, it does help that at least one person is sane at any given time.

I guess I am one of the lucky ones, my team consists of 3 full time and 1 part time, all RN's. We all have very different personalities but when it comes to getting the job done it's a total team effort. As far as the other departments go, we made copies of their sections and they actually use them right in the chart so we just need to enter their info in the computer. Sure helps to make a very tideous job much easier.