I am a new charge nurse and understand there is a new emergency rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Can you tell me anything about it?
I believe you are referring to the new CMS emergency rule that took effect on Nov. 15, 2017. Providers and suppliers who participate in Medicare and Medicaid must comply with the new rule. The new rule has four components, which include the following:
— Communication Plan
— Risk Assessment and Emergency Planning
— Policies and Procedures
— Training and Testing
Having lived through writing these and implementing them for years, I must give you a few pointers that took me years to learn along the way.
Remember how much turnover affects the facilities, and if you practice your plan today and in the next week have key personnel leave, you need to practice it again with new staff filling in the positions of those who left.
Having the plan on paper is NOT good enough. You must practice it! You learn so much that way, such as you have assigned nurse X to get supplies and put the items in a pillowcase and evacuate the building in an emergency. What, if through practice, you realize the nurse doing this job is 4-foot-9 and cannot reach the supplies you are requesting? If you did not practice, you would not know.
Or, what if you are planning on school buses to assist with moving your residents during an evacuation, and there are two roads the buses need to travel? But one road is blocked due to the emergency, and the day of your drill, they are paving the other. What if extreme weather is involved?
Remember: Practice makes perfect!
From the October 2018 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
