Long-term care nurses who follow the path of becoming nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) can advance their careers and skill levels through experience and gained knowledge over time. At every stage of professional development, NACs can take steps to boost their knowledge to be prepared and access resources for success.
Part two of this blog series will focus on tips for competent NACs with at least six months of experience and how to advance their careers. Read part one of this series.
Tips for the Competent NAC
For competent NACs, some of the top tips to advance their careers include:
1. Achieve and maintain a certification – Competent NACs who want to show their employer and themselves that they have the knowledge necessary to succeed in their specialty should plan to work toward achieving and maintaining a certification.
AAPACN’s Resident Assessment Coordinator – Certified (RAC-CT©) certification has long set the national standard for skilled nursing facility PPS and MDS 3.0 education. The RAC-CT certification program ensures the NAC’s knowledge of clinical assessment and care planning, completion of the MDS, and the regulatory body surrounding the RAI/MDS process.
Not sure if you are ready? Read the AAPACN blog, “Am I Ready to Take the Resident Assessment Coordinator – Certified (RAC-CT™) Certification?,” review the RAC-CT Candidate Handbook, and learn more about the value of AAPACN certification.
2. Enhance your knowledge with continuing education – Competent NACs understand the basics, but there’s always more to learn. To advance their career, competent NACs should seek out continuing education to provide further insight into how to impact and improve the care of their residents and their facility’s quality and reimbursement.
AAPACN suggests the following continuing education courses for competent NACs:
ICD-10-CM Coding Certificate – This certificate program guides learners through the process of determining and identifying the most appropriate ICD-10-CM codes.
Section GG Train-the-Trainer – This certificate program prepares learners to teach section GG to direct care staff and provide training material and resources to enhance learning. This training focuses on understanding the section GG tasks and performance scales needed by nurses, nurse aides, and interdisciplinary team (IDT) members to accurately document the resident’s functional performance.
3. Become savvy with tools – Competent NACs can elevate and improve efficiency in their day-to-day work by utilizing many of the great tools available for their position.
Competent NACs who are AAPACN members also have access to a full library of free tools to help them in their job, such as:
- At-a-Glance QM, QRP, and VBP Tool
- SNF QRP Quick Facts Tools
- Beneficiary Notice Guidelines Tool
- Template for Care Area Assessment Summary Note
- NAC Preparation Guide for the Triple Check Meeting Tool
- MDS 3.0 Final Validation Reports Quick Facts and Resources
- PDPM At-a-Glance Tool
- MDS Items Impacting Reimbursement for PDPM and SNF QRP – Updated Tool
- MDS Data Collection for the NAC tool
Discover more NAC tools on the AAPACN Tools webpage, and learn more about membership here.
AAPACN also offers additional guides for competent NACs to help them improve key areas of their job, such as: