Unsafe working conditions

[nursehaley91, BSN, RN]

I work in LTC. More specifically a continuing care type company. We have an Independent living, ALF, and a skilled facility. I'm a second year nurse but have worked both years for the same company, prior to that I worked here as a CNA. I've currently got transferred down to the ALF due to their low staffing, only have one nurse hired, and their DON is currently on a leave of absence with her return date yet to even be considered. I've been put in charge of doing all the scheduling, all of the appointments, I'm in charge of arranging for all lab work, among the usual floor work and med passes. We are extremely low staffed, we are working at bare minimum staffing (sometimes I think we even work below the minimum. 1 aide to 24 residents? How unsafe is that?!) I'm currently working a 15 day stretch so as not to burn my girls out more than they already are. They bust their asses and we are all just at the breaking point. We have call offs daily, which then requires my girls to pull overtime, most times they work doubles. I have tried to approach my administrator about this and she continuously blows me off. She says we are working with what we have and we are working at "low but safe" staffing levels. Somehow I find that hard to believe. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I want to get another job, but all it would do is screw my residents and my girls that I work with and my loyalty lies with them. Does anyone have any advice?

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

Administrators are motivated by $$$$ and not safety.. I understand your wanting to stick with your staff and residents. No easy answer.

[Anne36, LPN]

I understand how you feel, we really dont have anyone to fill in when there is a call off or even if someone takes a vacation day. I was just sitting here contemplating calling the DON to complain or vent about the current situation. For the last several months we have been working with only 2 nurses on midnights about once a week. In the past week it has happened 3 times! I had a terrible morning, and to top it off the day nurse actually had the nerve to ask me who I passed morning meds on. I did my job and did not have time to start in on the morning med pass. Me and 2 other midnight nurses are seriously considering looking for other jobs. I think it would be great if we all turned in our resignation on the same day. I think it might be worth your while to look for another job to at least see what is out there.