We’d like to recognize the following clinicians for achieving the OASIS COS-C Designation.
- Becky McClung, MSN, RN, Chief Quality Officer
- Sara McCloud, RN, Quality Manager
- Angie DeMasi, RN, Interdisciplinary Clinical Team Manager
- Karla Wilmott, RN, Clinical Quality Nurse
- Ashley LaFirira, RN
- Diane Tulloch, RN
- Janet Hahn, RN
OASIS, which stands for Outcome and Assessment Information Set, is the assessment tool that all visiting Registered Nurses, Physical Therapists, and Speech Language Pathologists use out in the field to determine the needs of their patients, to direct care, and to measure patient improvement.
Clinicians use the OASIS assessment to score a person’s status on a range of items, including pain, shortness of breath, wound healing, and ability to manage activities of daily living such as bathing, walking, and dressing. The completed assessment is used by clinical case managers to help develop plans of care. When a person is discharged from service, the assessment is given again to measure how a person’s overall health has improved.
“Newly-certified staff will be able to educate and train their peers in how to complete the OASIS assessment,” says Becky McClung, RN, MSN, Chief Quality Officer, who also received the COS-C certification. “As a result, clinicians will have better insight into the specific needs of patients, including barriers to care, and can develop more targeted plans of care.” Karla Wilmott, RN, Clinical Quality Nurse, says that the training and certification gave her the tools and insight to better understand, and respond to, her patients’ needs. “OASIS scores are important for CVHHH on a number of levels. The overall score is directly tied to our reimbursement by Medicare,” says Becky. “In addition, OASIS is key to helping us meet our broader goals of improving our patients’ overall health and quality of life.”