Notification of Medical Staff for a Situation

 Procedure:

1. Immediately contact RN supervisor or manager to personally assess the resident and assist with medical staff and designated representative notification.  The RN supervisor or manager should promptly contact the medical staff personally regarding any resident experiencing acute illness or significant change in condition.

2. Choose the correct Situation from the options and follow the recommendations for evaluation.

3. For issues requiring medical staff notification prior to the next business day:

   1. Sign in to EMR to have the resident's information available.  

   2. Obtain any paper records (Advance Directives, Intake Record, Lab Reports, etc) and the list of emergency medications available in the facility.

   3. If the issue is emergent, attempt to contact the appropriate medical provider every 2 minutes, using multiple contact methods (pager, cell, office phone, home phone, switchboard). 

   4. If the issue is urgent, attempt to contact the appropriate medical provider every 15 minutes, using multiple contact methods on later attempts.

   5. If you are unable to reach the appropriate medical provider after 2-3 attempts as described above, contact the medical director.

   6. If the issue is not urgent but cannot wait until the next business day, attempt to contact the provider every hour, using multiple contact methods on later attempts.

   7. Notification is complete only when a response from the medical provider is received.  Sending an email, secure message, or fax, or leaving a message, either with a person with voicemail, does not meet the requirements of notification.

   8. Generally, the resident's representative should be notified of the change in condition after medical staff notification is completed.

4. If there are any concerns about the response to a change in condition, immediately contact the medical director, director of nursing, or administrator.