[RNsoon!]

What do they do? Im sure it involeves rehab, which I might enjoy doing, but Can you giveme more details? How long does it tkae to become one? Is it in Demand? What's the salary like?

[silvergirl]

everything. CVAs SCIs TBIs ortho stuff (hip repl. total knees, amputations, gait training, prosthetic training.) You will see trachs, gtubes, dressings, confused pts, nonverbal pts, agitated pts. Very challenging. Most pp who float there think we are just a step above a SNF. They leave thinking different. Some say we are a boot camp for pts. (light term for our having pts do as much for themselves as they can we dont necessarily pamper them). You will love it I am sure

[jordankreationz]

I'm new to it and it involves quite alot but it is also very rewarding. I've been a nurse for 15 years and the hardest part about it is learning not to baby the patients. I always want to help and do more. It's hard learning to let them make their own way to the dining room even if it takes 20 minutes when I could push them down there in 1 minute. But it's rewarding to get to know them and see them improve daily. Research it and go to a few facilities and see if they'll let you just observe. I don't know if they would or not but it's worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.

[TheCommuter]

I work on a short-term rehabilitation unit where the typical patient is discharged home in 2 weeks.

I deal with mostly postsurgical patients who are too deconditioned to go home. In other words, we are reconditioning (rehabbing) the patients. These patients are CABGs, knee and hip arthroplasties, thromboembolectomies, hysterectomies, post CVAs, fractures, and so forth. One time I received a gentleman who was badly beaten and robbed, and needed reconditioning. Many of my patients are middle-aged, and wouldn't fit the description of the average nursing home patient.

I regularly give drugs via IVPB and IV push, especially antibiotics. We frequently must start our own IVs to create peripheral access. I remove sutures and staples, dress complicated wounds, apply new ostomy appliances, operate nebulizers, CPM (continuous positive motion) machines, iceman machines, oxygen tanks, concentrators, and PEG tubes.

There's always something to learn at my workplace, which happens to be a nursing home. The opportunities might not be so obvious, so you have to be aggressive and seek them out.