Nursing home (random thought)

I'm sure many of us will be residents someday. I'm also sure that unless management increases staffing then the trend you see will continue, unfortunately. I'm a relatively new lpn in ltc and can't understand why they lack the means to train me properly to actually function well on the floor. I also have no idea why they would see me as a warm body and put me on the hardest wing to 'train' myself. No wonder why there so many that can't keep staff. Also, when nurses eat their young, everyone pays a price including the nurse doing the eating! So there seems to me to be alot of blind spots in the system at present. I'm not sure I can do much about it when I can't even get my meds passed in a timely manner. If I ever do, I'm sure they will find a way to pile on more paperwork or other duties for me to do.

I hope that I never have to work in a nursing home, because my conscience would not be able to take what I have witnessed as a CNA when I worked in one. Even then, I saw how horrible the conditions can be for a nurse who really wants to try and take care of her patients.

I have been an L.P.N. for 23 years and most of it working in LTC, if it makes you feel any better they are not all bad. Yes you will be over worked but it can be a very rewarding place to work. I would never work in one that I felt the residents were not being cared for. What can we do to improve it I'am not sure because it will always come down to how much money they can make. If you really like working LTC then you do what you can to make your unit the best that you can. Leo2

I'm an aide in LTC. I love the place I work at. YES there are bad seeds. YES I sometimes feel my boss is too nice and lets things go. But at the end I can only do what I can do. I've come to realize I'm not superwoman and can't do the whole building to my standards. So I take care of the residents in my section, I make sure those people are taken care of, loved, encouraged, nurtured, ect. for the 8 hours that I'm there.

Many of us will be in nursing homes one day I'm sorry you've found them so bad.

I am so happy to say the nursing home in which my CNA classes and clinicals are in is clean, bright and does not smell of urine; in fact I think everyone in my class noted that the first day. This is a county facility and I plan on applying there. Nice pay, great benefits and from employees; a very nice place to work. Also, we have a friend who recently built a new Assisted Living facility. The place is absolutely spotless, well staffed and has a huge waiting list. My husband and I kid her about moving in! She is in the process of adding on. I have my name in to work there once the addition is complete.

There *are* nice facilities out there, but I am also in a rural area and I don't know if that makes a big difference or not ... ? But I can honestly say in my general area I haven't heard of any place that was absolutely terrible (other than some hard to work with staff). So, *someone* is doing something... I'd love to know the secret if would help others!

Good luck.
CC