Coping with OASIS-C

As the year draws to close, the date for OASIS-C implementation is almost upon us. Are you ready?

Wait? Did you say, ‘yes’? I didn’t think so.

We have done this before and we will likely do it again. OASIS-C is huge. It will result in sweeping changes to our daily practice of nursing. And yet, you are hard pressed to find nurses confident in their ability to answer all questions correctly. That includes me, by the way. But if you are thinking that you will never be prepared and are considering resigning your position to work at Taco Bell then you may want to take a deep breath and rethink this.

I know from experience that we can teach and learn and reteach all we want but the real fun begins when the dataset is used for actual patients. Patients are mostly inconsiderate of our dataset and will frequently find a way to avoid fitting neatly into the little pegs in a dataset. One option is to discharge all of your patients. Better yet, post on the decision health listserv. Ask questions. Call your state association. Call or email a brilliant consultant. Or muddle through. The choice is yours.

This next point is critical. Pay close attention. It is very important.

You will fail as a home health nurse if you don’t change your processes. Your agency will fail as a company if it doesn’t change its processes. Our industry will fail miserably if we don’t change our processes.

Did that get your attention? Good. I have no appetite for failure. The only nurses I have ever met with a tolerance for failure never made it through the first year of clinicals.

Does that mean we have to be perfect on New Year’s Day? I hope not. I do not plan to be perfect until I at least know how! And I won’t know how until the data set is being used on real people.

Will you remember every detail taught to you in training? Will you be able to keep all the new processes straight? If you answered ‘yes’ you belong in an institution somewhere where your brain can be studied.

Having done this before with OASIS and OASIS-B and OASIS B-1, I have only one wish concerning the implementation of the new dataset. I wish that all of my colleagues will make the necessary changes in such a way that our patients truly benefit. As an industry we have to take these changes seriously. As nurses and caregivers, we have to minimize the time and energy we spend solely to accommodate a dataset. More importantly, there are millions of sick people in their home waiting for their nurses and aides and therapists to come make their lives better. Can we possibly do both?

I think so.

For updated OASIS-C training dates or onsite training information, please email us or call 225-216-1241.