Is this common?

Absolutely not. At the LTC that I did my clinicals at back in December had roughly 100 patients. We have atleast 2 dynamaps per wing (3 wings), a huge cart of towels, wash rags, etc per wing, and a large supply closet with all of the bed linens.

I know we have one rectal and one oral thermometer for one floor, 48 residents. And one O2 stat machine. We really need more vital sign equipment....

We have one dynamap (or maybe it's a different brand) per wing and I hate it. I don't think it's very accurate. The blood pressure thing usually takes forever and if I recheck it manually I get something different. The temperatures are all really similar- everyone will be between 97.0 and 97.6 on one day, then the next day they'll all be 96.2-96.9. It looks like I just made it up! I usually borrow a cuff and stethoscope and sometimes an O2 sat probe (if she has one) from the nurse, but we have no other thermometers.

I onced worked at a facility where we had to use soap and water to do our changes. A pain? Yes, but you get used to it. I'll tell you what, out of the several facilities I worked for, this particular LTC had hardly any pressure sores. Wipes are good, but they do not remove all the fecal & urine matter. That combined with sitting in one spot all day creates pressure sores. So while it's a pain if wipes are not available, it is better for the patient.

Each bathroom with a shower or bath should have a thermometer. The bathroom should be wiped clean with rags that are NOT used on people. If they are using the same rags, that is an infection control issue, and it should be brought up to your DON.

we don't have wipes either. we use washcloths for peri-care.

We aren't allowed to use washcloths for peri-care. And if we were to get caught throwing a washcloth that was too poopy to be saved.......ooooooooh boy, big trouble!

Wipes are convenient, but expensive and often irritating to sensitive tissue. I see a lot of that with my residents and would rather do peri-care with warm wet washcloths, plus shaving cream PRN for the grime that gets caked on when people sit in it all day.

Oh, and a big YES to disinfecting surfaces with alcohol or a bleach solution. I get the heebie-jeebies whenever I so much as think about sitting in someone else's bathtub........I know I'd refuse to have anything whatsoever to do with bathing if I had to park my butt on a shower chair someone else had used (and done Lord knows what else in). Yeccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhh.