Advice for Restortaive Nurse!!

[mel1213]

I was wondering if there are any RNP nurses out there who could give me a little advice about some of thier RNP programs! I have been the Restorative Nurse in a large facility in Pa for a little over a year! When I first started I did not have a RNA, however 6 months later I did get to hire one. I was promised that if this went well i would get at least one more (needless to say has not happened yet). It is a LTC and I know how things work.

I have it split up into two levels.....Level 2 RNP is done by the rNa and myself. Level 3 is done by the staff cna on the floor.

However we could only have so many residents on rnp 2 at one time. And it becomes very frustrating because we work with the residents and usually end up exceeding their goals and than d/c them to the staff on the floor to ambulate, do ROM.......and sure enough three months later i do a quarterly assessment and usually have to send a PT screen for a decline!!! Is this a common frustration in other LTC facilities??

Also I am involved a lot with falls and try to do everything I can to make sure the measures are in place..... and we do have falls meetings and so forth but I just don't know how to come up with an answer for every single fall! I also have some other responsibilities that are not part of RNP....because i am on the IDT team. It gets me so far behind. We are due for our re visit survey from the state and can't stand when the state is there!! Any advice or anyone in same situation would love to hear from you!!!

Thanks

Mel

[roser13, ASN, RN]

What is a "Restortaive Nurse" and an RPN?

[mel1213]

Restorative Nursing is to make sure the resident maintains thier highest level of function. When a resident comes off of PT/OT/SLP they write an order for a Restorative Nursing Program and set a goal that the resident is to maintain. A RNA is a Restorative Nurse Aide who carries out the Restorative Nurse programs. I am the Restorative Nurse and when the RNA is off I perfom those duties. These programs have to be done 6 days a week at least and for 15 min per day. It sounds pretty simple? Unfortunatly it is not so simple.

[SunnyAndrsn]

Restorative Nursing is to make sure the resident maintains thier highest level of function. When a resident comes off of PT/OT/SLP they write an order for a Restorative Nursing Program and set a goal that the resident is to maintain. A RNA is a Restorative Nurse Aide who carries out the Restorative Nurse programs. I am the Restorative Nurse and when the RNA is off I perfom those duties. These programs have to be done 6 days a week at least and for 15 min per day. It sounds pretty simple? Unfortunatly it is not so simple.

Thanks for the explanation of RNP and RNA! Our facility has these tasks written in our treatment book, therefore, each nurse on that shift is responsible for overseeing the task. Typically, I do the PROM because only a few of the CNAs I work with actually do it. It's silly, because it just takes a few minutes!

For the ambulation programs, I rely on my CNAs. Which means that depending on which CNAs I have on my wing, I need to nag or it won't get done. Others are fantastic.

Perhaps you need to speak to the floor nurses about your expectations to work with the RNAs?