DON's Handbook

Introduction

The long term care industry is heavily regulated and under increasing public scrutiny. The demands on the Director of Nursing increase yearly, and she is in a key position to increase and support the quality of care in the skilled nursing facility. There is at present no official training to prepare nurses for the Director of Nursing position in long term care, and nurses who fill the position come from varied backgrounds and degrees of experience.

This book aims to give all of the basic information a long term care Director of Nursing needs today. For experienced Directors of Nursing it provides a good reference for regulations, standards, and laws. The forms included in the book can greatly expedite job performance. Information is given on organizing the job, managing resident care, staffing, and quality assurance issues.

For the new Director of Nursing, or the nurse aspiring to that position, the book outlines all of the major responsibilities of the job.

Applicable federal regulations are quoted in each chapter, and forms are throughout the book.

For the 2009 Fifth Edition, care plans have been updated to ensure compliance with the change to MDS version 3.0 and with all of the federal regulations and guidelines updated during the past year.

All of the forms and care plans in the book are included on the CD so they can be saved to a computer whenever needed. By adding or deleting entries, the forms and care plans can be made resident specific.