MDS Alert
Evaluate Infection Assessment
PDF
Find out if your approach needs debugging.
Does your facility complete a comprehensive assessment for residents found to have signs/symptoms of the following common infections upon screening?
• Pneumonia
• Other respiratory infections, including tuberculosis
• Infected wounds, including decubitus ulcers (pressure/bed sores)
• Recurrent lung aspiration
• Urinary tract, bladder infections
• Septicemia
• Viral hepatitis
• Fever (undefined)
Does your facility's process for comprehensive infection assessment include all of the elements below? On admission, readmission, or reassessment of infection, are the following elements included?
a. Temperature, including the mode used (oral, rectal, axillary, ear probe).
b. Presence of rash, including location and description.
c. Presence and description of the pertinent signs of infection (e.g., for a new onset cough, the frequency and intensity of the cough, and amount and color of sputum, etc.).
d. Date and time of onset or, after treatment is begun, the recurrence of symptoms, signs (e.g., "sudden chill at 2 pm," or "spiked a fever of 101 degrees at 0800," or, for hepatitis, "onset of jaundice last August," etc.).
e. Pertinent history of recent infection (e.g., "hospitalized for pneumonia last year").
f. Information concerning possible contagion (e.g., regularly plays cards with Mrs. A, Mr. B, and Miss C in the activities room).
g. Which licensed staff performs admission assessments.
Source: Excerpted from materials developed by the Quality Improvement Organization program for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Nursing Home Quality Initiative. Read the entire Facility Assessment Checklists For Infection, including disclaimers, at medqic.org.
MDS Alert
- MDS Accuracy:
Is 'Garbage In, Out' Syndrome Trashing Your MDSs?
5 ways to keep your assessments and coding from going astray.
Over time, inaccurate MDS assessments [...] - ADL Coding Tipster:
Dig Deeper When You See Limited Assistance
That holds especially true for a rehab patient.
You don't want inaccurately reported limited assistance for [...] - Pressure Ulcers:
New Staging Guidelines Increase Pressure To Juggle Standard Of Care And MDS Coding
Navigate the growing gap between the NPUAP guidelines and MDS.
The updated National Pressure Ulcer Advisory [...] - Medicare:
If A Resident Has Dehydration, Look To See If You've Captured These Conditions, Services
This way your coffers won't run dry due to untapped payment.
If a resident has dehydration, [...] - Risk Management Tip:
Chart The Good News About A Resident With A Wound
Spell out how the resident is doing well.
Suppose a nurse doesn't document that a patient [...] - Best Practices:
Prevent Unnecessary Rehospitalizations With Triage And Lab Strategies
Don't be known as the SNF that bounces residents back to the hospital.
Concern about rehospitalization [...] - What Do You Think? Which ICD-9-CM Code Should You Use For Dehydration?
The ICD-9 manual used to have only one catch-all code for volume depletion, which was [...] - Best Practices:
Certain MDS Items Flag Residents With Higher Acuity
Let your documentation spell out your assessment, care.
If your preadmission or admission assessment reveals a [...] - Coding Quizzer:
Would You Code Abnormal Labs At P9 For These Residents?
Question No. 1: Mrs. Smith receives warfarin (Coumadin) for a recent bout of thrombophlebitis. Mrs. [...] - Trends:
Could The CARE Postacute Assessment Tool Replace The MDS?
Find out why you should care about the CARE.
Potentially coming to SNFs, home health, inpatient [...] - Continuing Education:
Hear The Latest And Greatest About Urinary Incontinence, Pressure Ulcer Care
Get a 15 percent discount on your next audioconference.
Incontinence affects more [...] - Clip and Save:
Evaluate Infection Assessment
Find out if your approach needs debugging.
Does your facility complete a comprehensive assessment for residents [...] - MDS & Billing News
--Ready for a Medicare Part A reimbursement boost? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [...]