I’m here in Florida trying to prepare for this hurricane we are supposed to get as I write this. You know, you can do your best to prepare but as you’re scurrying about, knowing it’s hurricane season, you have to wonder if you can ever be really truly prepared. 

I’m like, dang, why didn’t I buy that case of water last month, or fill up the Jerry can of gas for the generator weeks ago? I knew it was eventually coming. It’s the season.

And, of course, that got me thinking about trying to prepare for survey. I mean this hurricane we are expecting, it can be a tropical storm or a Category 4. It can head for us or curve and go to where we evacuated to (true story — it happened last year). For the most part though, I’m prepared. I have a generator, flashlights, days’ worth of non-perishable food, solar generators, evacuation plan… the whole works (except for the extra water, which we drank, and the gas).

But so many people start rushing about when survey is due instead of being ready all year long.  And, yes, I get it. We don’t know if we will have seasoned, understanding surveyors or get hit with a curve and get slammed with contract surveyors who honestly don’t know an F675 from an F684!

Knowing that, we should always be prepared, we should always be auditing, evaluating, making meaningful improvements, etc.  We should do our darndest to treat residents in place and give great clinical care so we have excellent outcomes. Good regulatory outcomes always follow good care.  

I mean, unless you prepare properly, it’s like “Trying to reason with hurricane season” and, well, that’s unreasonable!

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates. 

The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.

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