RN job responsibilities in LTC

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Feb 16, 2008

At my facility, the staff RNs do the meds, treatments, notes, doctor calls and the like. They are not expected to toilet residents or change wet briefs. However, if they have time they are encouraged to help the CNAs if they can.

About the treatments--it varies all the time. Some days there are antifungal creams to put on, some days there are wound vacs to be changed..or central line dressing changes. It all depends on your facility and the kind of patient they get.

Good luck.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2008

At the LTCF where I am employed, the RNs and LPNs/LVNs have identical roles as floor nurses. The job basically consists of medication pass, simple treatments, blood glucose monitoring, skin assessments, charting, supervising CNAs, and so forth.

EmeraldMom76 · Feb 18, 2008

In my facility it depends on which shift you are on.

Dayshift has a treatment nurse. So they are mainly responsible for med passes. Usually the DON or ADON handles the calls to the Drs, most communication is through notes. (Our facility is attached to the hospital and clinic, so doctors are on site during dayshift hours)

NOC shift has to do med pass, treatments & rounds with their aide at 10, 12, 2 & 4, plus med change once a week, paper change at the end of the month, and some other miscellaneous "chores" - like cleaning the med carts & treatment carts, cleaning the fridges, changing tubing on concentrators etc.

So - dayshift does a lot less aide-type work, at night we pitch in and do it together.

jpRN84, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2008

Hi

I worked at a nursing home as a RN Unit Manager for three months. It was three of the most tiring months. I worked monday through friday dayshift most of the time working from 8am till like 5pm or 6pm, depending on how crazy the day was. Typical day for me was go in get things ready for morning meeting, make sure the floor was running well, go to morning meeting which would take up to 2 hours due to people talking about all aspects of the facility and reviewing the 24 hour report sheet from the day before, then after that meeting I would get a follow-up list which would have anywhere from 1 to 20 tasks to follow up on such as how is this person doing, are the aides doing what they are supposed to be doing, was this family member contacted, was the doctor called, what orders were received and why. All of this had to be done by the next day's morning meeting, also there would be different meetings through out the week such as QA meetings, meetings to review skin and weights, meetings to review psychotropic drugs and meetings to review restraints. Plus, I was repsonsible for being my unit's supervisor during the day, making sure things were being faxed, doing IV push meds, taking care of central lines, doing IV's if the LPN wasn't IV certified, measuring resident's wounds, settling disputes between staff members, calling doctors on any new or emergent conditions, retrieving stock meds for the LPN's from the stock room if they ran out, talking to family members if needed, and doing nursing assessments and admission paperwork on new clients being admitted to my unit. By the time I left there at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Now, if you are just a regular RN supervisor I would say you would Supervise the LPN's and CNA's, doing IV push meds, calling MD's on new or emergent situations for the residents, maybe passing the occasional medication pass, and admitting new residents to the facility minus all the administrative duties that I mentioned that came with the Manager role. Good Luck with whatever you choose to do. Take Care.

aloha551 · Jun 19, 2008

Do Rns change pts pads in LTC-Yes Do RNS change pads in Acute settings-Yes Do Rns change pads in Dialysis Units--Yes And my Niece tells me that occasionally they do it in the OR. Part of the job.... You get used to it.. But Mucus!!!!!! Still gives me the shivers..........Aloha Nue