Word From the Director

Transcription

1 The UNAR News Utah Nursing Assistant Registry Newsletter Dece m be r V ol. 5 Word From the Director It has been a very busy past few months here at the UNAR office and I must apologize for not getting this newsletter out sooner. I am hoping you have all been pleasantly busy and haven t noticed that it was missing! Christmas is upon us and so I will take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and hope that the spirit of the season brings you joy. I know I get caught up in the busy-ness of it and appreciate little reminders to stop and enjoy the moments that make up my life. Remember to pause and just be in the moment throughout your day, let go of things that no longer serve you and be grateful for the life you are living. I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the UNAR office, Melissa McElfresh. Melissa comes to us all the way from Texas where she was working as an OR nurse in a surgery center. Yes, she is a nurse! She became an LPN in Her work prior to that was as an administrative assistant. The work she does for the UNAR office does not require her to be a nurse but it does provide her with a unique perspective having worked in healthcare with CNA s. I have been impressed with Melissa s follow through and excellent customer service and I am sure you will find your interactions with her to be a positive experience. Welcome to UNAR Melissa! Melissa replaced Tara Braaten who took a position at Orbital ATK as a recruiter.

2 Belated Curriculum Update Info As was announced in June, the UNAR curriculum, skills and candidate handbook are being updated and will be released in January of 2018 with any changes related to testing going into effect in July The curriculum will be titled Utah Nursing Assistant Core Curriculum. The handbook is being replaced by a document titled UNAR State Certification Exam Guide. I would like to express appreciation to the instructors on our Curriculum & Skills Update Committee who advised and worked on the content. This is the same group that sat on our Test Advisory Panel last spring and includes: Tiffany Haggerty, Terral Basset, Suzie Kendall, Sheree Bjerregaard, Jen Harrington, Jen Bird, Janice Trump, Janet Bergera, Christa Staheli, Cherie Crezee and Candice Williams. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review materials and offer input. The committee will be receiving final drafts for review very soon. As a group we agreed to change the course the curriculum had been taking by paring it down to a list of objectives, vocabulary, diseases & conditions and skills. This document will serve as a guide for programs by listing expected student outcomes rather than content as the current version does. Vocabulary words, diseases & conditions and skills applicable to each unit are also included. The student objectives are divided among 15 units including: Certification, Intro to Healthcare (formerly Orientation), Communication, Infection Prevention (formerly Infection Control), Basic Safety & Emergencies, Positioning & Ambulation (formerly Body Mechanics), Resident Environment, Basic Human Needs, Vital Signs, Hygiene & Grooming, Nutrition, Body Systems (including Elimination), Mental Health & Mental Illness (formerly combined with Cognitive Impairment), Cognitive Impairment & Dementia and Death & Dying. The Diseases & Conditions unit has been eliminated. Common diseases and conditions that students should be familiar with are found throughout the units. Students are not expected to be experts on diseases and conditions but should have some familiarity with those listed. Any test questions about diseases at the state level will be limited and carefully considered before inclusion. State Hand book As mentioned above, the Certified Nursing Assistant Handbook for the State of Utah will be replaced by a document titled UNAR State Certification Exam Guide. This document is not to be used to teach skills like the current handbook but does give the exact score card that skills observers will be using to objectively document the students performance on the skills test as well as an overview of the scenarios. An excerpt from the guide may help explain this best, The skills steps in this guide are to be used for objective testing purposes only at the state skills exam. They are not to be used to help you learn how

3 to properly perform skills. The steps listed for each skill are not intended to be used to provide complete care that would be considered all-inclusive of best care practiced in an actual care setting. When performing actual resident care, skill steps as detailed in your nursing assistant textbook and/or taught in your nursing assistant training program are to be used as the basis for care you provide residents. The guide is intended to make the skills test less mysterious to instructors and students. The skills have fewer steps included. The number of steps included in the test are generally less than the number of steps that would be taken when caring for a resident. Students can carry out more steps than are listed and it is not counted against them unless they are performed in an unsafe manner. With the steps in the test being fewer than what students are taught via the instructor, we can help accommodate for differences among instructors. We understand that there is more than one correct way to perform a skill, but for objectivity it is necessary for the test to be uniform. Test Bank Review UNAR will be conducting a thorough review of the test bank to assure that the test aligns with the updated objectives. This review will be completed for the July 1 st test update. The current test plan has the following categories of test questions: safety, communication, infection control, resident rights, data collection, basic nursing skills, role/responsibility, disease process, mental health, personal care, care impaired and aging process/restorative care. I will be looking at each of these categories and making adjustments as necessary for proper categorization of test questions. This is an important step so that training programs can be provided with the most accurate information possible about the test. It will be helpful for instructors to know the test categories and the specific curriculum units that fall under each category. This is not information that you currently have available and will help provide clarity to the TMU Knowledge Detail Report. This category audit also has a July 1 st goal date. TMU Test Results Some of you may have noticed a drop in your Pass/Fail Report. This is due to the difference in reports from the old system to the new TMU. The old system provided a percentage based on the student. The new system provides a percentage based on testing. Let s say you have a student who has to take the knowledge test 3 times before passing and the skills test 2 times before passing. In the old system s report this would show up as 100% for both the written and skills even though the student had to take the tests repeatedly to pass. In the new system s report this would result in a written 33% and skills 66%. This is an oversimplification but you can see why there is a difference.

4 Fee Increase Our last UNAR News mentioned the rising costs of conducting skills testing and that fees for students would be increasing effective January 1. We are pleased to announce that although reimbursements from UNAR to testing sites are increasing to cover those increasing costs, we have managed to prevent the increased cost from being passed along to students. Testing fees will remain the same, $40 for skills and $35 for knowledge. Toenails and Fingernails We posed the question about CNA s trimming toenails if not specifically contraindicated on the careplan to Greg Bateman, Manager of the Long Term Care Survey Section at the Department of Health. Greg oversees the team of nurses who conduct state surveys of all Medicare/Medicaid certified care facilities in the state. His team is responsible for identifying issues that do not meet standards set by CMS and taking appropriate action against the facility to enforce compliance. The Long Term Care Survey Section of the DOH is also who keeps us updated about facilities that are prohibited from hosting nursing assistant training programs. Greg s response was, I am unaware of any regulation that would prohibit a certified nurse aide from trimming the nails of a resident. In the case of a resident with circulatory problems, diabetes mellitus, blood thinning medications, or a history of recurring ingrown or infected fingers or toes following nail care, facility policies should address who should provide nail care. In many instances, this may be a licensed nurse or podiatrist. During survey, resident hygiene, including nail care (cleanliness and trimming), is reviewed. What does this mean? It means that we need to start teaching students to trim nails, including toenails, and to be sure they are aware if their facility policy states otherwise. It is our responsibility to teach them how to do it. It is the facility s decision whether they will be allowed to do it and if so, whether there are certain residents whom they should not. Thanks Greg!

5 January Group Testing We are excited to have so many schools testing with us in January! Please be patient with us and remind your students that test scores may not be immediately available. With the additional volume, plus the everyday renewals and customer inquiries, scores may be delayed. We will make every attempt to get these scored and out as quickly as possible. Please Help! We are STILL getting a lot of duplicate records! Please ask your students if they have ever tested to be a CNA or if they have been a CNA to avoid duplicates. If they have, please contact UNAR to put them into TMU. Christmas Break Hours & C ontact The UNAR office will be closed from December 23rd to January 1st. During this time, there will be no availability to leave voic messages. Please feel free to us at unar@davistech.edu. We will be happy to serve you and reply as quickly as possible when we return on January 2, Contact Us! UNAR Main Line for Students Internal Customer Line for Test Sites & Instructors unar@davistech.edu 450 Simmons Way #700 Kaysville, UT Adult Pr otect i ve Ser v i c es Reporting is available 24/7 and online at: Report suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation! Reporting abuse in Utah is mandatory. P lease welcome: Joe Prior, MSN-RN with Avalon Healthcare CNA Training; Rebecca Benson, RN & Charlene Black, RN with Bridgerland Tech; Donna Nolder with CCCNA; Sonya Fowles, BSN-RN & Robyn Steed, RN with Davis Tech; Chelsea Browning, RN with Jordan School District; Abbie Thomas, RN & Margo Pugh, RN with Mountainland Tech; Pamela Silberman, BSN-RN with Ogden Weber Tech; Beverly Peek, LPN, Christine Klamm, RN & Cathy Mills, RN with SLCC; Casey Hinkins, RN & Tanele Carter with Snow College; Susan Erickson, RN with Southwest Tech; Michele Brand, BSN-RN with Tooele Tech; Lindey Ellingford, BSN-RN with UB Tech; Melissa Lund, BSN-RN with Utah CNA Training Center; Breanna Halverson, BNS-RN & Wanda Parker, LPN with Weber School District.