New Year QIDP / QDDP Task

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Well 2016, arrived and if you are like most people it got here way too fast.  You still have your books all set for 2015, all your plans are based in 2015 and for the next three months you will be scratching out your "5" to make it a "6" on everything you sign.  The good news though is there are some things as a QIDP that you can do now to ease the transition into the new year.  Some of these suggestions will apply to all QIDP/QDDP, and some will only apply to Texas QIDPs, but at least you will have a list to start out on the right foot for 2016.

The first thing you should do for 2016, is consider your annual dates.  You might as well make a calendar for the following at a minimum:

1.  Annual staffing dates
2.  Fire Drill schedule
3.  School start and stop dates (if you work with any people in school)
4.  EMR check schedules -required annually in Texas
5.  CPR renewal dates
6.  Annual medical appointment dates - hopefully your nurse will complete this part

Most of the above can easily be placed on a Google or Apple calendar.  You can then set the calendar to remind you of the event a few days or weeks in advance.

Since January 2016 is usually the start of the cold season - at least it usually is in Texas - you need to consider your annual inspections.  You need to have the heat unit inspected - especially gas units (a pre-season check).  You need to look at your fire extinguishers and see what month you should schedule their updates while reminding yourself to check the unit monthly.  You need to look at your alarm inspections -fire, and other alarms- and see when they are due.  Finally, if you use flame resistant treatment for curtains, you may need to check those dates and see if this is the year for updated treatment.

This time of the year may also be a good time to have maintenance, check your appliances, furniture, etc.  It could also be a good time for clothing inventory and updates.  There's a good chance that several people may have new clothing from Christmas so now is a good time to clean up closets (with consent naturally).

You can make a list and get most of these items scheduled for the entire year in just a few hours.  Unfortunately, a good number of us will look up at our calendars and realize it's already February long before we get our updates rolling.  Why don't you take a few minutes now to get it done?