Congress is finally give nursing homes the attention

Hey thanks I enjoyed that

Yea, I do a lot of shopping at Krogers and the dollar stores. And I like JC penney for clothing. They have some really good sales, and that is when I shop. Make sure that everytime you shop at JC Penny ask as the register for any promoted sales, becuase sometimes I find out that there was a sale and I did not know about it, like 25% off. So my point is, I have bought better quality clothing and saved way more than paying full price at
Wal-Mart, yes sir ree!!!

Thanks

I am a new graduate RN. As for many of other new nurses it seems that jobs can be hard to come by. So, despite the horror stories I have heard about nursing homes, I decided to apply at one since I wasn't getting much luck anywhere else and give it a try. Let me tell you, the conditions are TERRIBLE. In this facility we have about 70 patients and only three nurses that are assigned to each shift (Days, Evenings, and Nights) mostly LPNs, and each nurse is responsible for up to 24 patients. We are supposed to give these people ALL their medications, including about half who are diabetic so that includes blood sugars (CNAs are not allowed)and insulin along with the regularly scheduled meds. The acuity of these patients is too high for one nurse to have so many. CNAs are GROSSLY understaffed as well, 2 for 24 patients, most of whom are incontinent of B&B, bedridden,and unable to communicate their needs with dementia. Not to mention I have patients that need to be straight-cathed on a regular basis, 2 patients on continuous tube feedings and complicated dressing changes every shift; all the while I am to assess every patient throughly for skin checks and assesments, make sure the CNAs are doing their job, and chart on all the patients that all this was done.I was trained for two days then on my own. The DON stated that they won't allow anymore training than that. We frequently run out of supplies, for example, we ran out of tube feeding for a patient at about 8 o'clock at night, so he was off of it for 2 1/2 hours while we waited for the pharmacy to deliver the feeding, which is ordered to be on continuously. All to be finished in an eight hour shift where you are mandated to take a 30 minute lunch. Most of the nurses there don't even take a lunch because they don't have time, but get in trouble by the facility when they don't take one and get refused pay for half an hour regardeless if they took it or not. All nurses on staff MUST be in the dining room to help feed the patients who cannot feed themselves and pass out all the trays, simply because there aren't enough CNAs to do this. This takes about an hour out of your shift that you could be taking care of patients properly. Most of the nurses just "sign off" on things even though they didn't do them. Realistically it all can't be done, but it has to be signed off, and many will tell you "there is no other way" because, as I have sadly come to know, there really isn't. I am not comfortable with this and I WILL NOT put my license on the line. I do not feel comfortable with the situation at all . I constantly feel my morals being compromised and cannot give these patients the care they need and deserve. I don't feel safe in this environment. This is a for-profit facility and they seem to try and scrape by anyway they can. I come home crying because of the situation and have come to the conclusion that I will not be going back. There is no mandate on how nurse/patient ratios by the state and I really believe these places should be regulated heavily. These for profit companies should be held accountable for taking care of these residents and their staff. It is all about money for the company and not about the people. This deeply saddens me and is not what I expected to be doing as a nurse.