I feel like I'm losing all of my nursing knowledge, help!

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Specializes in Rehabilitation.

Hey, I'm a new grad and I've been working in a LTC facility for about 5 months now. I am an RN and when I first applied for the job I was under the impression that I was going to be a staff nurse. Well the administrator liked me so much I went straight into being the Restorative Nurse. I HATE EVERY MINUTE OF IT. This is going to be long. OFFICIALLY i have been the restorative Director for about 2 months now. The previous restorative director was moving to Seattle and they needed an RN to replace her. I was ecstatic about getting department head experience straight out of nursing school. However, I am drowning. Our current census is 204 residents, it is just me and 3 RNAs. I hired another nurse to work with me who then quit on me soon after. It is impossible to complete the amount of paperwork due weekly, handle all the falls for the facility, buy and manage all assistive devices and fall preventative devices, run all the restorative programs, assess the residents quarterly and new admits by myself. I am drowning and have become depressed as my work gets further and further behind with no new prospects. Not even the nurses on the floor can help because we have a huge staffing issue where there's 1 to 2 spots open per shift that either aren't covered, leaving a nurse to work 2 floors or calling an agency nurse to help. It's horrific, truly. That's not even my question just a rant really. As I sit and pound out this paperwork everything that I feel like I learned is leaving me. I feel like I can't even really call myself a nurse because I am still so clueless about a lot of things. Th e patient loads at this facility are ridiculous. 50 on th e psych unit to 1 nurse, 45 on the dementia unit to one nurse and 30 on the skilled unit. Ive had to work the floor before, after only being oriented 2 DAYS before they threw me to the wolves, I cried that day. I had time to pass meds only which took me 4 hours to pass am meds with the next med pass schedule the next hour. Anyway to my question, how do I keep my skills so that I don't look like a dipshit if I get a hospital job which I've been trying to do for months. I can't remember anything it seems, and I feel like such a fake and a failure. Any nurses in ltc that then transitioned to a hospital ... how did you keep on top of your skills you worked so hard to learn?

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