Sherrie Dornberger, RNC, CDONA, FACDONA, executive director, NADONA
I am a DON who is fairly new to long-term care. Do you know where I can find a new manual and more information for the new QIS survey?
There are many Web sites available for the QIS survey. My favorite happens to be http://www.uchsc.edu/hcpr/qis_
manual.php. From this site you can download the entire survey manual. Review it to become clearer on the concepts, and what changes you might need to make for this new survey process.
I have heard many times that this new survey makes the inspector sort of “top notch.” The inspector puts a condition (for the resident) into the computer and keeps asking questions while guiding them along on a well-defined path. If you (the provider) have not done everything possible for the resident/patient regarding his or her condition or diagnosis, that is one place where a deficiency occurs.
I would print off the entrance conference forms from this site. Be sure that you know how to complete them, even though they may not be your responsibility. Know that Murphy’s Law is alive and well when it comes to unannounced surveys. So you may have to know more than you think you did.
Look at the areas on the list that the surveyors will be looking at prior to arriving. Review the OSCAR 3, and complaints filed with the state or ombudsman’s office, and their areas of concerns. 
Know that the lead surveyor will assign an inspector to look at dining observations, infection control, kitchen/food observation and preparation, medication administration observation, quality assessment and assurance review, and resident counsel president/representative review. So … someone in your facility should be visiting all of these areas, too–and not just the week before you are due for inspection!