Would love to hear your stories of rewards of long term care nursing.

[Wokini1]

Hi. I am a new graduate RN, second career nurse, after being a stay home mom. I am interested in working in long term care. I have heard only negative stories from disgruntled nurses I met in school who worked in LTC. Please tell me they are the minority. They paint a picture that is not at all what I was expecting. Complaining about the physicians not caring about patients, the CNAs not doing their jobs and being rude about it, and heartless nurse supervisors. This is not at all what I envisioned. I realize that they aren't me, and their preception creates their reality, but these are the only LTC nurses I have ever met and the four of them were on the same page :-(

If you work in LTC and find it rewarding, please, tell me about it. I would like to start out in LTC of LTAC. I am new to nursing, but have EMS background and ACLS certification. It would be refreshing to actually have time to get to know my patients :) Thank you for any advice you have to offer.

[judybsn]

You become the only family many of the patients have. So many interesting life stories. It is very rewarding work!

[1Grateful1]

I am a LPN in LTC, I was a STNA for 19yrs, LTC is hard work but I wouldn't trade it for the hospital (nothing against hospital nurses). I have 31 pts with 3 STNAs, some are confused, some alert, they love you like family, they miss you when you have days off, they're family will give you a hug years after they have passed when they run into you at McDonald's. sometime you are the only family they have. My DON, UNIT MANAGERS are great I can go to them about anything even when I'm upset, as for STNA I was one as I said, I treat mines with respect, I let them know from the beginning what I expect, I help with lights, toileting, feeding, 1 0n 1 with pts who are confused when I have time, I love listening to pts stories, I sing to them and with them, I pray with them and rub their backs. IT IS HARD WK so much to do but rewarding in so many ways. I always say everyone can't be the Doctor, Lawyer, Fireman, hospital Nurse, LTC Nurse it's are calling in life where we are successful at.....I hope this helped some

[ldcarter]

Please continue to consider a LTC career. It has enriched by life in so many ways!

I started out in nursing in intensive care and the moment a patient could speak they were moved the med-surg floor. Before I became an RN I had always worked in LTC. In ICU, I missed the stories and relationships I had enjoyed before when I worked in long term care. After a short stint in ICU, I returned to LTC and found I loved, loved, loved the residents. They made me laugh and cry every single day because they had nothing to lose. Time was short and residents got right to the point with their stories and truth telling. That was 35 years ago and I never looked back. Since then I have done nearly everything you can do in this field and continue to love LTC. I now run AANAC and I'm so proud of each and every one of our members and their committment to elders in long term care. This is recently what we heard from our members about their purpose as a LTC nurse. You can watch this inspiring video here: www.aanac.org/mypurpose. Diane Carter

[wiseoleowl]

I am a new graduate nurse as well and found myself drawn to geriatrics. I worked as a nurse's aide while in school in an Assisted Living facility and loved it. After graduation I got a job working in a skilled nursing setting with mainly geriatric patients. I really enjoy the work. It's rewarding as I feel that I not only take care of my patient but his/her family as well. I want them to know that I will treat their loved one like he/she was my mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, ect. That their loved one will become my loved one and I will do everything I can to make them as comfortable as possible.

My recommendation, give it a try! Just remember, there are good things and bad things in every job you have.

[amoLucia]

Nursemandy just caused me to have a flashback to something I long forgot. I too, am fascinated by the memories of the long ago lives of the residents in my LTC places. Specifically, I like to look at the pictures, photos and mementos in their rooms.

I find the wedding pictures to be most moving & significant. Even the befuddled Alzeheimers pts can usually reminisce about their weddings & marriages when shown their pictures. And to know that these were folk whose marriages lasted 50 or 60 years.

A super close second is pictures of elderly servicemen in uniform from way back (or those that have some memorabilia displayed). I have met many veterans of all branches (some women too) of Normandy, Pearl, Iwo, and even a survivor of the Indianapolis.

I next like the pix of their kids from the 40's and 50's. (Reminds me of those ugly ones of me and my sisters, cousins, neighbors, etc.)

I become upset when the pictures get dropped and the frames break. I have personally replaced many broken pix frames with new plexi frames just because I would like to know that someone made the effort to preserve those small irreplaceable pieces of still tangible memories.

Just my thoughts ...

[merrywhiterose]

I work in a LTC facility. Pluses: you can usually get more hours than in a hospital, & you get to know all of the residents. You can get pretty close to some of the residents. Minuses: some of these residents or family members can be really obnoxious & you can get pretty tired of them. CNAs have a big turnover (who'd want to work in crap FOR crap?) You work your butt off! I'm exhausted after every shift. You see a LOT of death & dying. I don't have any idea how many dead people I've seen. The doctor doesn't appear to care about the residents. He works at a hospital & visits all the area nursing homes once every 2 weeks. He hates it when we call him about anything! BUT, my future daughter-in-law works at a hospital & has many problems there, too. In LTC you are the ONLY "family" member for many of these people.

[aghhggh]

LTC can be very sad and trying at times. You will see a lot of the residents who you come to care about die. It can be a thankless job as well - you are caring for many people whose dementia is so severe they are unable to express thankfulness or simple kindness, their behaviors can be out of control, they may be combative or just downright mean lol!

That being said, I think it's a wonderful place to work. You get to really know your residents and build a relationship with them and their families. There is usually a huge patient load for each nurse, but these are people you see every day and you become very familiar with their meds, diagnoses, routines, personalities, etc. A former coworker of mine said she came to LTC because she changed from fulltime work to part time after she had her kids, and got tired of coming into the hospital after a few days off and having a completely new group of pts every time - in LTC those are *your* people, you know?

Anyway, if this is what you feel drawn to, I think you should embrace it! If you try it out and it turns out it's not a great fit for you, so be it, you can always move on.

One thing I will point out - this may not be the same everywhere, but in my area hospitals tend to have a nice long orientation period for new hires (esp. new grads), but LTCs/SARs/ALFs/etc tend to give their new hires maybe a week max. As a new grad, I got one shift of orientation before I was on the cart! Just something else to consider.

Good luck wherever your career takes you!