I just started my new job as a MDS nurse with this facility 3 weeks ago (Have 15 years MDS experience) and this morning I was called into the DON's office and given a written warning over a care plan that had not been changed to reflect this particular patient had had both legs amuptated back in September, so another MDS had been done since then AND another care plan, but was not updated to reflect this change, nor was a significant change in status done.
I signed it, stated I understood, and just went back to the office and cried. Maybe I'm making too much out of it, but I fail to see why it is my fault that this care plan had not been updated for 5 months.
I guess I just needed to vent. Moving on and trying to stay out of trouble.
Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.
I've just about had enough at this point and am thinking of giving a four weeks notice, and pray something else comes along during that time. Don't want to quit without having another job though.
I am completely overwhelmed with no offer of help from the other MDS nurse. She has 7 Part A patients on her caseload. I have 91 long term care. I am swamped and am barely keeping my head above water. I have all but gotten on my knees and begged for some help. When a MDS nurse has enough time to talk and text on her cell phone and visit with her friends all day while a co-worker is drowning, that's pretty pathetic and rude. Were the tables turned I would be helping her, knowing I didn't have but 7 patients on caseload. Why even have two MDS nurses when one isn't going to do anything else? What happens when we're down to one or two Part A patients? Will she get to ride the gravy train all day, everyday?
The last straw today was when a unit manager reprimanded me for a care plan meeting not being held for a resident two weeks before I was employed. I was not there on that date!! How could I hold a care plan meeting when I wasn't there?!?!?!?! Something has got to give.
Now I see why, as I found out last Friday, I'm the fourth MDS nurse to try to work with the other MDS nurse in less than two years. You would think somebody would get a clue!!
Agree -- why on earth would you sign this and go back to the office and cry?
Just FYI, signing does not mean you agree to an error, it simply acknowledges that you received the warning.
I signed a warning in nursing school while adding a notation that the accusation was false. I just didn't want to add fuel to it by appealing it. I moved on and never trusted a certain instructor again.
I did MDS"s for over 4 years before the "higher ups" finally completed their plan to get rid of me. It had been coming ever since the facility got a new DON who wasn't happy that she couldn't bring her MDS nurse friend with her. I knew it was coming and stayed til I was terminated so I could draw unemployment while I looked for a new job, because while I worked 60+ hours a week, I had no time to do anything, much less search for a new job. By the way, I am a floor nurse now. I NEVER want to do another MDS as long as I live.
Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.
Oh yes. The DNS who wants her friend in the MDS position. Been there and done that, but corporate terminated her because she wouldn't get me any help as I was the only MDS nurse for 120 beds. The day after she left, someone was hired to help me and she went on to terrorize the facility I'm working in now. She was terminated from there about two years ago. Otherwise I would have never stepped foot in the place.
The stress finally got to me and I ended up having to get a shot for a severe migraine this morning. I'm going to stay until something else comes along or they terminate me. I just can't quit with the bills coming in. It's just my husband and me, but we can't make it on his income alone. I could work part-time somewhere and be fine. Just need to find something.
P.S. I used to love doing MDS but find myself longing to go back to the floor again. Problem is, I have health issues and just can't work the floor full-time.
Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.
Well I did it. I've had enough. I put in a written request to go to the floor and it was approved. I will be working 7a-3p 32 hours per week with every other weekend off, so will be able to still have full-time benefits and more time off to actually do things. I like the majority of the staff and the facility isn't bad as far as care of residents, and not too bad with floor nurse retention.
I like the idea of getting off at 3p instead of staying over an hour or more everyday, not getting home until after 6p. No more being reprimanded for problems that were there way before I started, no more begging for help, no more having to do every single care plan conference by myself while the others sit and roll their eyes because they have other things to do, no more e-mails from corporate telling me I need to do creative coding on my MDS to increase reimbursement, no more criticism from the social worker about how I make out my MDS and care plan schedules, no more eye rolling when I try to change something to make it easier. After all, they've "always done it that way" so they hate change, no more doing jobs social services should be doing, no more telling me how to word my care plans and CAAs when I have been doing them for 15 dang years and never had a deficiency.
This corporation is particularly tough on its MDS nurses. Everything gets blamed on them. It's all about reimbursement so you'd better capture that money! If you lose a dollar, your life is made to be a living hell.
I don't know if I'm making a mistake by going to the floor, but right now I feel okay about my decision. After all, I am giving up a "cushy" office job for a bedside nurse position. I'm taking a pay cut too but we will be okay. I might regret it later as it might be as bad or worse on the floor than in the MDS office. I just can't quit right now, so to me, the lesser of the two evils is to put the MDS job behind me. I honestly don't want to do them anymore. I don't know why I even wanted to get back into it. I plead temporary insanity.
I will also have time to actually look for other jobs and put in applications in the meantime. Can't do that working 8a-5:30p or 6p Mon-Fri.
Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.
Good Luck, I am glad you made a move. Do not be surprised if you see some of their behavior in other areas....you are still under the same roof. But congratulations on getting a different position so fast!
Remember this my friend....you can't control how they act only how you react to them. I hope you enjoy the residents, your new shift and your days off!
Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.
Good Luck, I am glad you made a move. Do not be surprised if you see some of their behavior in other areas....you are still under the same roof. But congratulations on getting a different position so fast!
Remember this my friend....you can't control how they act only how you react to them. I hope you enjoy the residents, your new shift and your days off!
God bless.
Thank you so much ((((HUGS))))
I kind of started doubting my choice today because people can't understand why I would want to give up an office job, making me feel I am lowering myself somehow by going back to bedside nursing, but I don't see it that way at all, and just can't understand that mentality.
They don't understand how terribly mentally draining the MDS job is, and how hard it is to be chained to a desk in a little tiny closet of an office in front of a computer most of the day. Your written hours may be 8a-4:30p, but you rarely get off before 5p or 5:30p.
They don't understand how hard it is to make a MDS and care plan schedule every month for more than 90 residents, trying to please the other team members and family members by trying to work around their schedules.
They don't understand how hard it is to please the corporate powers that be, the weekly conference calls, the webinars, the e-mails from somebody way up North in another state telling you to change something, or why did the facility make $2 less this quarter than last quarter.
How hard it is when surveyors rake the MDS nurse over the coals looking for one mistake on a care plan they can tag the facility over.
How hard it is when auditors come in and take money because one day a CNA didn't code ADLs the same as other days, so there is no validation for how the MDS was coded, so the MDS Nurse gets all the blame.
I could go on for days lol! Can y'all tell I'm slightly stressed?
BTW, I finally found out why the MDS Nurse before me left after just three weeks. It was because of many of the same issues I am dealing with, and after going to the Administrator, nothing was done so she left and fortunately got another job right away. How sad that they continue to let it go on because nobody has the guts to say anything to the ones who are the real problem
Specializes in school nursing, home health,rehab, long-.
You did the right thing. Work that floor loud and proud. Don't worry what the others think. Tell them to get the training and see how easy it is to do the MDS work especially in that toxic environment. I get that some time because I'm "just a school nurse" and "Don't you want to make more money? " My sanity is more valuable than the special kind of misery you've been telling us about. I just smile and say, "I am just a school nurse. Until I find myself starving, with not one friend or family member left, a school nurse I shall stay." I hope the stress starts to melt away a light speed:up:
Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.
Well...I was talked into staying in my current position as a MDS nurse, and since then have been subjected to some fresh new hell everyday. If the 32 hour a week floor position is still available I am going to jump on it. I will know when the Staff Development Nurse comes back from vacation.
Makes me look wishy washy but I just want my sanity back. People think "oh...you have a cushy office job" but don't realize what comes with that office job. To be honest? I would rather work as a cashier somewhere than do another MDS or care plan for the rest of my life, or at least in the facility I work in now. Money's good, but it's not worth it if you're utterly miserable.
I know bedside nursing has its problems and challenges, but I can handle it better than I can what I am going through now. I just want to give meds., take care of the lil' ol' people and go to the house without having to worry about reimbursement, case mix audits, coding the MDS perfectly and care plans being nit-picked apart. I just pray the floor position is still available. If not, I don't know if I can take the mental strain of my current position much longer
LTCNS, LPN
623 Posts
I've just about had enough at this point and am thinking of giving a four weeks notice, and pray something else comes along during that time. Don't want to quit without having another job though.
I am completely overwhelmed with no offer of help from the other MDS nurse. She has 7 Part A patients on her caseload. I have 91 long term care. I am swamped and am barely keeping my head above water. I have all but gotten on my knees and begged for some help. When a MDS nurse has enough time to talk and text on her cell phone and visit with her friends all day while a co-worker is drowning, that's pretty pathetic and rude. Were the tables turned I would be helping her, knowing I didn't have but 7 patients on caseload. Why even have two MDS nurses when one isn't going to do anything else? What happens when we're down to one or two Part A patients? Will she get to ride the gravy train all day, everyday?
The last straw today was when a unit manager reprimanded me for a care plan meeting not being held for a resident two weeks before I was employed. I was not there on that date!! How could I hold a care plan meeting when I wasn't there?!?!?!?! Something has got to give.
Now I see why, as I found out last Friday, I'm the fourth MDS nurse to try to work with the other MDS nurse in less than two years. You would think somebody would get a clue!!