The BASICS MEMO: The Most Important Memo Your Staff Will Ever Receive

For the past few years, everytime I took over a new facility, one of the first things I did was to distribute my BASICS MEMO to each and every employee and go through it with them in my first inservice.  Then, every new hire orientation had time set aside for me to personally sit down with new team members and go over the basics with them, too.

The BASICS MEMO was compiled after having to troubleshoot many facilities and seeing the same common issues cropping up or the same survey deficiencies being cited over the same problems.  It all boiled down to not following the basic standards of long term care.

The BASICS MEMO (which is most likely the longest memo you’ll ever receive with 115 clearly communicated standards of expectation outlined) clearly identifies exactly what I expect from my staff members on a daily basis – the minimum requirements.  I wrote it in an easy-to-understand form so that there’s no miscommunication.  I would go so far as to say that taking the basic standards that I want to see in place everyday, putting them in a format the staff can understand, and making every staff member knowledgeable and accountable for them is the most important element of my success in the past 10 years.  It is absolutely critical that you communicate to your staff what is expected of them and back it up in writing.

The contents of the BASICS MEMO are not new concepts.  These are the basics that should have been in place since Day 1.  Oddly enough, most of these basics are not usually found in your facility’s policy and procedure manuals.  They’re not usually found on job descriptions.  These are things we expect our staff to know, but we hardly ever teach.  I remedied that.  I no longer just assume that my staff know the basics.  I ensure they do.

I’ve used the BASICS MEMO in turnaround situations with facilities suffering from disastrous surveys, to facilities with years of mismanagement, to facilities that ran smoothly and just needed someone to hang their Administrator license.  It doesn’t matter.  It works for all nursing homes and has information every employee needs to hear.  I typically make copies for everyone and then put a copy by the timeclock for good measure.  If I walk into a room and see double-padding on a bed, I simply ask the CNA and nurse if they read my BASICS MEMO.  Knowing they did as this was my first assignment to my staff, there really is no excuse they can give me for being noncompliant. It takes away the excuses.  ”I didn’t know…” no longer applies.

I encourage you to do the same – take away the excuses.  Give your staff a tool that lets them know plainly in black and white exactly what you want to see everyday on your halls.  If your staff members follow the BASICS MEMO, if they put the BASICS in place – you’ll have a great survey!

How To Get Your Free Copy:

To claim your free copy of the BASICS Memo, simply register at the top of the page.  This is the same document I use daily in my facilities.  Feel free to edit and customize it for use in your facility as well.

Once implemented, I’d love to hear how well it helped you!