Advice for LTC

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Hello there all you wonderful LTC nurses . I was wondering if you could spare some advice. I am starting in an LTC facility on the 7th of October. I am a brand new LPN and I was wondering what I should do and not do during my orientation. I want to be sure to start out on the right foot and not come across as to niave or with a know it all attitude. For those of you who have trained in new nurses, what do you expect of them and what do you wish they would not do.

Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.
do your own mini- assessments and take your own vitals. i had a resident who was on bp meds- for a week the other nurses were charting his bp as 160/80. i took my own and got 100/60. this is a big difference and was cause to hold his med. i don't know if the nurses or the cna's were taking the vitals but they were way off. since he was a big man, i kinda think they thought that seemed right for him- i know some cna's would assume certain vitals were right- yes assume.

just wanted to echo something in this post. if you are even a little bit uncertain about the vs, take them yourself.

after my first semester of nursing school, i worked in a ltc facility for 3 months (that is all i could take). now, we were checked off on vs during our first semster, so i already had learned those skills. we had also been taught t/p/r/bp during our cna class.

however, once i started working, one of my fellow cnas (more experienced than me as an aide) laughed at me for trying to get a bp on a skilled patient with a weak pulse. he told me just to "get the top number, then put it over the pulse." :uhoh21:

another aide was caught making up pulse rates on the locked dementia unit. he wasn't even creative enough to vary the rates. imagine that -- all the patient on the one unit had a heart rate of 78. hmmm. :nono:

i have worked with many wonderful, caring aides, both as a cna and as an rn. but remember, if it looks suspicious, verify it yourself.

Specializes in Assisted Living Nurse Manager.
however, once i started working, one of my fellow cnas (more experienced than me as an aide) laughed at me for trying to get a bp on a skilled patient with a weak pulse. he told me just to "get the top number, then put it over the pulse." :uhoh21:

another aide was caught making up pulse rates on the locked dementia unit. he wasn't even creative enough to vary the rates. imagine that -- all the patient on the one unit had a heart rate of 78. hmmm. :nono:

i have worked with many wonderful, caring aides, both as a cna and as an rn. but remember, if it looks suspicious, verify it yourself.

it just amazes me that people actually believe that they can get away with this kind of stuff. i will never understand how their thought process works. i will keep this in mind while i am working. i guess you learn who you can and can't trust. thanks for the insight, these are things that i never even thought about before. i am soooo glad i asked for advice!!!!!

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