What time does your LTC facililty start getting residents up?

Find a different LTC!!! At ours we get the early birds up early (7ish), and the ones who sleep soundly through all the morning noise, get up when breakfast arrives (8:30ish).

I am horrified that anyone would wake someone with force, or in any unpleasant manner! Get out of that place!

I'm sorry you haven't been having a great experience in LTC, and thank goodness that CNA was fired. I don't work in LTC, but have worked in a facility similar to it and patients that did not get up on their own were usually woken up around 7am, 7:30am the latest to perform ADLs before 8am meds. The late sleepers were woken up around 8am to take meds, allowed to go back to bed, then woken up again @ 8:30am for breakfast. 4am is really early!

Why do you think the DON is skirting around the issue? Do you think they want them to go to sleep earlier so they wake them up earlier? Since she's not giving you an answer, during your shifts (if you are the Charge Nurse) tell the aides to leave the residents alone until YOU feel they should get up... I wonder how that would go over lol. Best of luck in your job search!

I did my clinicals at a LTC last year and they have a very relaxed morning routiune. Breakfast is served from 7am-10am and the residents can get up whenever they want. If they want to go to breakfast in thier PJs then it is accetptable, only breakfast though.
If they wanted to eat in thier rooms that was fine too. They could also choose what they wanted for breakfast. The kitchen would make a special for the day, but there was always avaible a varity of cereral, fruits, and breads and if they didn't like the "special" and just wanted eggs that was also an option. The other meals for the day were the standard this is the time and everyone gets the same thing. My clinical would start at 6:30 and maybe 2-3 residents would already be up, the rest would get up when they were ready. The aides were not to wake anyone up, only go and check on them and help them when they were ready. Which is why breakfast would go untill 10am for those residents who liked to sleep in. Needless to say I loved that place, if my mom ever needed to go to a LTC I would love for her to go there.

I have worked as an aide in another LTC and there the night shift was expected to have some of the residents dressed for day shift and have the clothes layed out the night before and they would start getting them up around 5am, but then they would put residents down for bed as early as 5pm!

It is the same time for some of the residents in my LTC facility. We have 88 beds and three shifts. Third shift is required to get some residents up and first shift ( which starts at 6:30) get the other residents up. Third shifts start getting residents up @ 4am. Do I agree with this? No but I do understand the neccesity of it. If third shift started any later they wouldn't be able to finish there work and first shift does not have enough time between start time and breakfast to get everyone up. So what do you do? I don't know. Working in LTC is very fustrating just because you see what happens to people when there to ill to care for themselves and theres no one to do it. It's even more fustrating when you see individuals working in the feild simply because it's a job but don't care about the residents.

Res sleeping in the hallway is a heartbreaking site. When I became unit manager I stopped it. It wasn't easy, as the cna'S weren't used to it. I worked it out with our activities director to have our leisure center opened early, that way, the residents that are up early BY CHOICE, can go down there and socialize with other residents until it's time for breakfast. Believe it or not, some do like getting up early. For those who want to sleep, we let them sleep, we have what's called open dining, which means the resident can get something from the kitchen between the hrs of 8:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M.. If someone wants to sleep in, they can get a bagel, toast, some cereal or a muffin when they get up.

I've been in my position since March and it is only now that the CNA's are starting to automatically take the residents to the leisure center instead of just parking them in the hallways. I do the same thing all day long, I don't want to see residents just parked in the hallways staring into space, in my opinion it is depressing and a dignity issue. We also got a facility dog (a puppy really) who the residents just love. I love my residents and for the most part work with good cna's and nurses, but it is a challenge every day to break bad habits.

Don't give up on LTC, it can be the most rewarding part of nursing. Good luck.

Roxann

I would write them all up for getting anyone out of bed and dressed at that unGodly hour! We have several residents who have always gotten up and dressed before sun rise. Mostly they were fishermen and have been getting up this early for decades. If it it THEIR choice to get up at 5:30 or 6 we get them up. Otherwise they sleep till 6:30 or 7. One facility I worked for got cited by the DPH for having the lab tech come in at 5 am. The residents complained that 5 was way too early to have some stranger stick a needle in their arm!!!
Here's my question for those embracing culture change: all the residents get up when they want. They get their meds when they want. So the regulation is still medications will be given an hour before or after the scheduled time. IF there are NO scheduled times, how do you get around the regs?

On my floor there are usually 3-4 early AM "get-ups". These are people who want to get up early and complain if they can't get washed, dressed and up with or before the sun. They get up around 6-6:30. Everyone else gets up around breakfast time, 8am (some before, some after. We try to meet the patient's preferences if possible.)