new rehab nurse

Mom and Nurse:

I work in Rehab because I have found that I do my best work with a consistent patient group. Our patients usually stay a week or two and you get to know their needs pretty well AND are usually able to see improvement over time- very gratifying.

Chaya

Chaya - Thanks for your reply. I liked the idea of doing my practicum and perhaps considering rehab nursing because it appeared that the nurses have more time to spend with the patients (one or two weeks). I look forward to my practicum at the rehab center.

I ve been a rehab nurse (LPN) for 9 yrs now . I ve loved it so much because its alot like med-surg. our pt. to nurse ratio is 6:1 with four cna s on days and three for evening s and two at nite.we do primary nursing with the charge rn taking usually 4 or five pts.
I work agency lots and do med-surg. and I have to tell you its really nice when your pt. can get up and go to the bathroom with only stand by assist. I ll be relocating soon and I would love to go to med surg all the time. Mostly becuase the admit criteria changed where I ve been for so long ...use to specialize in head and back injuries now its kinda like a set population all the time with the older population...mostly cva s ect...

some of the pt. to nurse ratio s I ve read are quite frightening...15 :1 is really too much I would think how can you care for that many ppl properly?

I guess situations like that is why they scream there is a shortage of nurses......

Thanks CC123, I kind of found the 15:1 ratio that someone wrote about for rehab nurses kind of scary also...but then I'm only a student and 6:1, which I know is a good ratio, seems scary also. Hopefully at my senior practicum at the rehab center I'll be able to do more med surg nursing. I've heard its good to do as much med surg as you can before taking the NCLEX because much of the NCLEX is med surg...as least that's what I've been told. I'm really leaning toward trying to find a job in rehab nursing after I graduate. We'll see if I feel the same way after my senior practicum.

I work in a sixteen bed in patient rehab unit which is part of a community hospital--rather small but progressive. During the day there are two RN's two aides, same on 3-11 and two RN's and one aide on nights. Not too bad. Some nights you run your legs off but we can have nice peaceful stretches--depends on what our population is like at the moment.

I've done both - I'm a CMSRN (certified Med/Surg RN), and I'm still doing Med/Surg on Rehab. Don't tell me that pts. w/ central lines, multiple complex dressings, etc. aren't Med/Surg patients! Any patient who needs several IV poles to hold all the pumps is certainly a M/S patient. Yesterday I got a vent patient direct from the ICU. My patients are just as sick when they arrive. And many of them leave for Intensive Care or Stepdown again within a day or so. (They were not appropriate admissions in the first place, but it's a $ thing, IMHO)

However: On the M/S floors, I was responsible for 16 patients (with an LPN and an NA under me). On RHB, I rarely have more than 8 patients, w/ an aide. And the majority of patients stay long enough to develope a true therapeutic relationship with them and with ther family. I get to see significant improvement in 'my' patients, and sometimes I get to see them come back later, walking, talking, leading productive lives. Or I know that their quality of life is better, because I can see it improving. I get to see grandparents who can hug their grandchildren again and/or read to them, can go to church again, or who can go back home instead of to a nursing home. Or who can use a walker instead of being wheelchair-dependent. Or people who can now dress themselves, or help to dress themselves, or toilent themselves, Or who can develop tthe skills to function with a spinal chord injury (altho we usually have to transfer many SCI to longer-term RHB facilities).

But: I also feel frustrated by the fact that I have not learned MORE about RHB nursing than I have, because I work the evening shift. I don't get any feedback from the therapists, or get to see what they do w/ the patients so that I can reinforce it, Or point out problems pts have later in the day when they are much more tired. The therapists see them at ehir best - well-rested.

I don't think there is a PERFECT nursing job, but I love what I am doing, and I love the fact that I have much more opportunity to do patient teaching, answer the questions of patients and their families (not always, but once in a while). I'm glad I shifted units, and I'm glad Ihave my Med?Surg skills, because I use them every day. Our patients are getting sicker and sicker too.

Savvy One

Thanks JWaldron - I've started my practicum in rehab nursing and I have noticed that some of the patients are sicker than I thought they would be in a rehab facility and I've seen the usual peg tube, IV, etc. Med Surg skills come in handy. The majority of patients are pretty much what I expected (amputees, hip and knee replacement, etc.) I am enjoying that I get to know the patients before they leave and I am learning about FIM scores, etc. The patient load is usually around 6 - 8 patients per nurse. Hours worked are anywhere from 8 to 16 hour days . I'm definitely learning about many medications (since many of the patients are elderly).

Hi Yeti,

I am also a rehab nurse (x almost four years) and just wanted to share a tidbit with you. I was on the unit yesterday when an instructor for a hospital-based nursing programs came through w/a lg. group of students. He paused for all of about 10 secs, long enough to inform the students that the pts. on this unit are "getting ready to go home." I was infuriated and wanted to say, "Hey, have a look at some of our diagnoses!!!" When was the last time you tried to transfer a CVA pt w/total hemiparesis to a toilet from a WC!?!?!?! GRRRRRR! Our unit is generally a staffing pool. Just last night on 11-7(we have 8 pts, one of which is confused and pretty much 1 on 1), the house super pulled the LVN, replaced her w/ a CNA (okay), but then at 0330, pulled the CNA and left the RN alone! We both know that not only is this not SAFE for the pts., but also against CARF regs!!! Just venting.....Thanks!

Amen to everyone! We too, are getting people who are more and more ill. The difference is, I am only responsible for eight, not sixteen like M/S or 45 or more like LTC. Just the other day we had a gentleman admitted. The 7-3 Charge nurse took his information and just as she was wrapping up, he c/o #10 chest pain. Three nitro did not relieve it, so back he goes to the ICU. Then he gets sent to Lehigh Valley Hospital, a large, level one trauma hospital here in the northeast. He's there a couple days and comes directly back from their CCU and post cardiac cath. Last night he developed a GI bleed rectally for me about four am. Became unstable about 7 just at shift change and is back in the unit with a Hgb of 7.5 AFTER two units PRBC's. Guy has a laundry list of diagnoses. We were told at a recent staff meeting that they will be looking for admissions with "comorbid" conditions. You are right--it's a matter of money. Nothing to be done about it. Focus on the good things about Rehab nursing and the good you are doing. I looked on the bright side of that episode--I could have had this gentleman in the nursing home, with me, two aides and 45 residents to be responsible for, many of whom are confused and climb out of bed at night.

Wow 15:1 that is tough. I work in a 53 bed rehab hospital, Typically we have between 5- 8 on days and night can have up to 11 but thats really rare- we have two units and 3 day nurses and 2 on nights- I have had 11 on nights and its too much-- you are doing good just to get your meds passed and to chart. And its been my experience that you do alot of the techs work, like toileting, dressing, etc....15 is way too much, and you have to consider the acutity of the patients..amy