MDS Alert

Reader Questions:

Remember This Timing for Hospital Observations

Question: If a resident goes to a hospital emergency room and receives intravenous (IV) medication but comes back to the facility, all in the same day — not overnight — we should count that information in our own records, right? We don’t complete a discharge assessment.

New Mexico Subscriber

Answer: The RAI Manual defines the leave of absence, on page 2-13, as not requiring “completion of either a Discharge assessment or an Entry tracking record, occurs when a resident has a:

  • “Temporary home visit of at least one night; or
  • “Therapeutic leave of at least one night; or
  • “Hospital observation stay less than 24 hours and the hospital does not admit the resident.”

Make sure you document any changes to the resident in the medical record.