POLICY STATEMENT.

The Division of Veterans Healthcare Services (DVHS) shall require that the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home (VMH) maintains a form on which the staff records and tracks all appointments and/or consultations ordered by a resident’s physician (MD) or nurse practitioner (NP) for a resident.

PURPOSE.

The New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home’s “Appointment and Consultation Tracking Form” will assure that an appointment and/or consultation order is recorded, scheduled, carried out and tracked. It will also be used to track whether the recommendation(s), procedure report(s), or test result(s) have been received, and will also document the date and time that the physician or nurse practitioner have been notified that these recommendations/ reports/ results are available for their review.

PROCEDURE.

1. When an order is written for an appointment or consultation, the transcribing nurse will enter the resident’s name, room number, type of appointment/consultation, and the date ordered on the

“Appointment and Consultation Tracking Form”, kept in a book on the unit.

2. When the appointment or consultation is scheduled, the nurse will enter the date scheduled, as well as the transportation arrangements, on the “Appointment and Consultation Tracking Form”.

3. When a resident returns from an outside appointment or consultation, the receiving nurse will review all the paperwork that was returned with the resident. The nurse will also enter the date the appointment was done/actually completed, as well as the date the reports were received, on the

“Appointment and Consultation Tracking Form”.

4. If the appointment or consultation results in a recommendation and/or report, the nurse will inform the MD or NP immediately. This notification will be entered on the “Appointment and Consultation Tracking Form”, and in the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) notes.

5. If the paperwork indicates that a test or procedure was performed and the results are pending, the receiving nurse will call the facility or consulting physician to confirm that the reports will follow and when to expect them. This information will be documented in the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) progress notes.

6. If the resident returns from an outside appointment or consultation without paperwork, the receiving nurse will call the facility or consulting physician to request the paperwork, and will provide the VMH fax number or mailing address. This information will be documented in the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) progress notes.

7. The receiving nurse will ensure that the physician or nurse practitioner have been notified that the delayed results/reports from an appointment or consultation have been received by the VMH and are ready to be reviewed, and will note the date and time of this notification on the “Appointment and Consultation Tracking Form”.

ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURE.

1. If the process for scheduling and tracking appointments and consultations can be accomplished through HCIS, MDSEase, or an approved DMAVA computer program, this shall be substituted for the attached manual tracking form.

2. The computer program must be capable of producing a printed document upon request.

3. The steps and procedures indicated in the paragraphs above must be followed when utilizing a computerized tracking system.

Revised: April 2007