POLL LTC Nurses... please answer - Page 2

Bad DONs.
Short staffing (caused by bad DONs)
Inappropriate residents (supported by bad DONs)

Sometimes it's the administrator not the DON.

**** poor leadership from heads of nursing, Administrators, unit managers, union money hounds that dont protect you just take there 3% and co-workers/owners that dont care

lead to 99% percent of all the problem

Staff that call out
Staff that don't do what they've been taught
Staff that don't know diddly.

How come you forgot to add - lack of supplies (not provided by bad DONs)???

ATTENTION ALL - I'm being SARCASTIC here. So, don't jump on me! I am a mgt/admin supporter!

To Hurricane, how many DONs have you worked with? I can understand if you've had poor experiences with one, but many??? Maybe you've just not been at the right places.

DONs answer to those that are above them in the hierachy chain of command. They too can only do what they're allowed to do. To lump them altogether is a bit sweeping.

If you've had it bad, I do understand and I can sympathize. Good luck to you.

Pairing a new hire or new grad. with a nurse who has no patience nor time to orientate the poor soul who will have to pass meds. x2 to 30 patients on a busy rehab. unit or long term care unit.

Administrators who make the schedules for the entire staff of a very large LTC home, creating havoc and confusion, not telling staff when schedule changes are made, therefore causing good staff to lose their job because they didn't come to work, thinking they were off that day.
Scheduling nurses and CNAs for six and seven days with only one day off. Doesn't leave much time to relax and regroup.

Administrators who micromanage and tie the poor DONs hands, overriding decisions and creating her own policies on a whim.

Horrible nurse to patient ratio, leaving little time for actual patient interaction, increasing risk of med. errors and hurried documentation because OT is strictly forbidden unless the Administrator approves of it ahead of time.

In all fairness, she did say "bad" DONs, not ALL DONs. So I dont think she was lumping them together. Just sayin

I didn't say ALL DONs. I said BAD ones. And they ARE a problem. Good ones are not a problem.

Short staffing - caused by not enough nurses or CNAs so we get worked to death then have to take a day off for our mental health and physical health.

Better wages and benefits so that more people will be drawn to LTC, both nurses and CNAs. If we are fully staffed the workload is manageable, but fully staffed is a dream.

Definitely better wages for CNAs, better training for them, and education for the nurses that don't appreciate how a good CNA can totally make the shift! I believe if the wages were better, more people would want to do the job and thankfully we wouldn't be killing the ones we have now by overworking them! I don't mean time to sit around, but spend a day with a good CNA and you will see how hard they actually work, I personally could never keep up with them.

1. Short staffing
2. Overwhelming amounts of paperwork