MDS Alert

Ready, aim, educate.

To keep your MDS documentation on track, you have to show staff the coding ropes--and know when and where their know-how is fraying.

Example: The MDS staff at Little Flower Manor attaches ADL flow sheets, pain assessments, the time the resident was awake during the assessment reference period, lab reports for UTI and other documentation to each MDS they do. "If something seems amiss, we talk to the caregivers about the documentation before coding the MDS," says Lisa Marcincavage, CRNAC, an MDS nurse at the Wilkes-Barre, PA facility. "The person might say they made a mistake or provide additional information to clarify a situation," she says. The feedback process also helps the MDS team identify areas where CNAs need more education or coaching. "We do training on documentation monthly but if we find problems, then we bump that up to twice monthly until the issue resolves," says Marcincavage.