kfostercma

Latest Activity

1. Am I too old?

   kfostercma replied to Cinda's topic in Career Support

   I was feeling self-conscious about starting my first med-surg job at the age of 38 when most of my coworkers became nurses in their early 20s. Then I happened across this inspiring post. Thank you so much for this! In short, no you are not too old. ...

2. "Green House" model

   kfostercma replied to vampiregirl's topic in Geriatric

   I have been working in a "Greenhouse Model" nursing home for 3.5 years. Here is what I have observed: Intent: and in addition to promoting independence like any traditional long term care setting, elders are encouraged to garden, help with preschool...

3. Are the elderly just happy to see a white guy?

   kfostercma replied to kfostercma's topic in Geriatric

   For clarification: I do not have a carefree attitude towards my work performance, I feel quite privileged to be actively using my education and I show gratitude for that by always looking for ways to improve. I listed my mistakes/need for coaching ...

4. Are the elderly just happy to see a white guy?

   kfostercma posted a topic in Geriatric

   I have been a nurse for three years now, all of my time has been spent in LTC I am the only white male nurse on the payroll at my facility--which is not terribly surprising. Even ten years ago the female to male nurse ratio was something like 15 to...

5. What works for your facility!?

   kfostercma replied to Lpn1226's topic in Geriatric

   Yes, I agree with notanumber about positive reinforcement. Leadership 101: praise is cheap! Always say please and thank you. It is better to ask an aide to perform a task for an elder than it is to order it. My aides often tell me I am their favo...

6. Long Term Care Nursing is Lame

   kfostercma replied to purplegal's topic in Geriatric

   I'll confess that LTC wasn't my first choice (AD RN here, working on my BSN), and I will grant that it is predictable, it can be boring on some days, upward mobility is limited unless you want to be a manager (no thank you!) and I am constantly keepi...

7. New Nurse - Losing motivation for nursing

   kfostercma replied to Nurse Beth's topic in Nurse Beth

   I am an AD RN and managed to find a 0.8 FTE job in long term care right away, but working in my favor is my gender. I have been frustrated trying to find something more specialized, hospitals in the Minneapolis, St Paul area where I live are unwilli...

8. racist patients

   kfostercma replied to Rn 1979's topic in Relations

   I'm a white male nurse with 2 years of experience kind of coasting by with my privilege. When it got to the point where I started to question whether I was really doing well at my job or if my white maleness is responsible for my accomplishments, I ...

9. Leaving Nursing for Another Career

   kfostercma replied to cocoa_puff's topic in General Nursing

   When I was in my early 20s I originally wanted to teach high-school science. But after my first college speech class I found I couldn't speak in front of crowds. Ten years later, I graduate from nursing school and have 2 years experience...my confi...

10. Leaving Nursing for Another Career

    kfostercma replied to cocoa_puff's topic in General Nursing

    When I was in my early 20s I originally wanted to teach high-school science. But after my first college speech class I found I couldn't speak in front of crowds. Ten years later, I graduate from nursing school and have 2 years experience...my confi...

11. Diabetes management in LTC

    kfostercma replied to kfostercma's topic in Geriatric

    She went off sliding scale for a time but she ept spiking into the 300s after breakfast and her a1c was 9ish so she went back on. I wanted to increase lantus but MD disagreed with my approach.

12. Double Shift

    kfostercma replied to Adele_Michal7's topic in Geriatric

    I average one double shift per week at my LTC facility and often it is the day before a regular shift. I work days so it goes 0630 to 2300 and back at 0630. I rely on public transit and won't get home until midnight....but the tradeoff is that the ...

13. Diabetes management in LTC

    kfostercma posted a topic in Geriatric

    I have been working in LTC for as long as I have been a RN--about 1.5 years. I have worked in two facilities, and I have run into the same problem with my sliding scale diabetics--actually all of my diabetic elders--in that no matter what aides I ha...

14. New Grad, SNF job

    kfostercma replied to nbsotelo's topic in Geriatric

    NurseGirl has a good point too, the burnout rate for LTC is high and one nursing home administrator once told me that there is an expected worse than usual shortage projected for the next fifteen years. It gets frustrating fast; I threw my smartphon...

15. New Grad, SNF job

    kfostercma replied to nbsotelo's topic in Geriatric

    Yes, everything ltcnurse4u said is correct.