LPNs called to come in and work as Aides? Is this common?

I worked for a hospice that would routinely use the LPN as an aide. I was horrified by it...we needed the nursing as badly as we needed the aide.

I am a new nurse in LTC, I haven't been called in to work an Aide shift yet, but I have heard that it does happen from time to time. Our DON usually schedules a "floater" Aide so if someone calls out we are covered and we have a handful of Aides who will pick up hours on a regular basis. I work the Alzheimer Unit, I have 33 residents ( room for up to 40) for me and three Aides, probably about 10 of them are total care, the rest have some level of independence.

Good girl!! You are smart. You know what you are doing! Go to work and school, do the best you can and remember you cannot change these facilities, but you can make a difference in the heart of those residents! Just take give good care to them, paperwork will always be there. Good Luck

We also use nurses that are willing to work as cna's on the floor to do direct patient care. Being a nurse is one of those jobs that as so much in need of more recognition and better salaries etc.. etc.. Seems like the shortage is partially do to lack of care at least that is how it seems in our facility My Don always tells me because I teach the cna class, I feel bad if they mess up or dont do meal intakes etc..- She says, You can teach them what to do but you can not teach people these days about good work ethic. Wish we had a union down here lol. I have worked on the floor as a night nurse with only 1 other aide more times that I would like to count with residents 350 lbs with fall risks and all I could think about what how are we going to get her up if she does fall the whole night lol. You finish one round and begin the next. There needs to be a better way and the MDS is crap and seems like it was developed only to get money for the facility and not the actual resident-- they are always making beautiful homes but does the resident get enough people on shifts to take them to the bathroom h### NO!!! Yes fustrating but wow I love our residents -- that somedays is the only thing gets me up and I have changed jobs too if I was stuck being a nurse aide because I was one first that is why I went to nursing school because I did not want to sling bedbans for the rest of my life!!! I wish the best to you!!! Hey and vent all you want I think we all need groups to just somedays scream - feels like your asked to be a nurse with your hands tied behind your back somedays then " MS JONE" tells you honey you look so pretty today and I am so glad your here I know I will be taken care of" That is precisely why I became a nurse 20 years ago and am also working on my RN thru College Network

I think it's great that they are offering you LPN pay for working as an Aide...I would gladly do it : )

As an LPN I perform patient care alot! We don't call it working as an "aide." We are nurses. Our RN's, however, never do patient care. The LPN's where I work, number to 11 to be exact with lots of RN's and LNA's. LPN's are the minority. I have no problem doing patient care, also some LPN's despise it. I say the LPN's are the"good stuff," the meat of the unit sandwiched in between. We get used and abused the most and taken for granted, while the RN's get all the brownie points and the LNA's also get a lot of recognition and complain the most. I have been mistreated so badly by so many RN's and the worst is my nurse manager. She doesn't manage well at all. Only if you have your head up her you know, will you ever climb to the top with recognition. I don't play that game. Is there a nurse manager thread around here, cause' I could really vent?!

The hospital I used to work at would float a nurse to other floors and have them fill the role of PCA/PCT. I never saw a nurse officially in primary care at that hospital. The one I work at now does not float nurses to be PCA's, but they have primary care assignments. (Primary care means the nurse is responsible for everything for that pt the entire shift - VS, toileting, feeding, etc. plus meds and assessments.) So I have seen this practice.

As far as your resident-to-CNA ratio, I'd say 2 CNA's to 15 residents is darn good compared to other LTC ratios I've seen posted here, and you may be being taken advantage of if they are pushing you to do CNA duties on a regular basis. I worked as a PCT during NS on a busy stepdown unit, and I was responsible for Q2H VS, accuchecks, bathing, turning, getting pts OOB, feeding, toileting, and stocking, plus I had to travel off the floor to monitor telemetry for pts that were going for testing. So I had additional duties to your CNAs' duties, and I did this for 9 pts, not 7.5. My nurses would help when they could, but they were busy too. Not saying your situation is all wrong, as I've never worked LTC, just be careful not to neglect your LPN duties for CNA duties unless it truly can't be helped.

I'm a LPN in assisted living and this is not normal. I'm responsible for meds, and my nursing duties. I do toilet and help with care when necessary but its not in mandatory that I help with meals, showers and etc. For example If I'm doing a treatment and my resident is soiled I don't call for an aide I'll do it myself. Now if I'm swamped with work or have an emergency then yes I will delegate. I'll never be above toileting a resident or assisting with ADLs however its hard to do my job and theirs to. When we have been short I was the nurse, med tech, and nurse's aide all at once. Its all about team work.