Any one know anything about assisted living RN?

[nd deb]

Seen a position opening for an RN for director of health services in a 50 apartment complex for assisted living.. noticed it required being on call.. They are the only nurse on staff. The facility trains their own staff to do resident care and pass meds.. rn sets the meds up. Staff isn't lincensed as cna or med tech with the state. was told that staff can call the Rn at any time when they off about falls, chest pain, low blood sugars ect.. to ask what they should do. Interested in what people's experiences or knowledge is about working in this position in assisted living.. What kind of salary do the Rn, and people doing the care, meds get? Is there a high turnover?

[Joyfull77]

I work in an assisted living facility as one of the staff who does the med passes, blood sugars, insulin shots, eye, skin and ear treaments and such when the RN is present and when she isn't. We prepare all of the meds, but the RN is over the med room. She makes sure to visit residents when we notice they aren't feeling well and she is always available on call when someone has an elevated blood pressure, dealing with certain PRN medications, or really anytime we have a question. She basically keeps everything in order and holds the medication room and the staff accountable. She not only acts as a supervisor but as a teacher and I have learned a whole lot from her in relation to nursing and taking care of people. I'm not sure what she makes but she typically works from 9-5 M-F and of course on call also. There is one other nurse in our department too, but she is the director, and isn't over the medication room but fills in for the nurse who is over the med room when she is on vacation. Hope this helps!

[SweettartRN]

Been there, done that, no thanks.

You will get calls in the middle of the night every night, you get no time off (because you are on call- always) you have people passing meds who have no formal training under your nursing license.

Where else do I go? Brutally nasty family members, crazy residents, people who are not appropriate for assisted living, but their family members threaten to sue if they are removed, and you will be encouraged to do sales at all times.

I could go on, but I only lasted 4 months before I had to call it a day.

YMMV.

[grannyrn65]

I live in one for several months but in an apartment on the independent side.The AL had five floors with four LPN's and one RN on days; 2 and one on call, evening and nights. The LPN's did all meds and blood testing. The RN did assessments and handled any problems. The fire department is several long blocks down the trail. If I were working I would consider working for them. The one talked about here-NO,NO,NO.

GrannyRN65

[coolbreese45]

I've filled in as a PRN nurse in an assisted living facility. Passed meds, txs, assessments, blood sugars, ect. One building had dementia pts, two buildings, with about 15 residents with medical concerns and the apartments about 20 residents. The apartments were suspose to hoiuse independent residents, however, there were the worse to take of. I had one lady with fluctatng BS's, would administer sliding scale insulin, then she would turn around and drink soda so she would not bottom out. She liked to order the nurse around. Her on-call endocrinologist was half-way across the state, I would have to call because she was high. She was playing me until she found out that she was charged for all the extra calls she made to me. (She would even call the cook to track me down). The night nurse explained to her that someone had to pay for all the extra time I spent with her, and that she should had called the MD herself. The calls from her stopped after that. No way would I ever take a job at an assisted living facility as they are not regulated by the state, the staff you depend on are not even trained as CNA"s, scary! One other incident that comes to mind, a brand new staff member, second day on the job went into a pt's room, who had dementia, and was a two person. I caught her trying to get him out of bed by herself, did not ask for assistance, and didn't know how to use a gait belt.

[inforn43]

Thanks Sweett I am doing this now. Personally I think the worst is that the company is out to make money and don't really care about anything else. They don't want any Res to leave no matter how inappropriate for ALF they are. And the families are insane. I am only paid to work 24 hours a week, so there is no way to take care of everything. Also I received 4 hours of training with the old nurse. Now I am being asked by APS about skin breakdown that happened the first week I started. I am not psychic I cannot see underneath clothing. If you want to keep your license don't take a job in an ALF. They don't have proper regs yet.

[DPRN]

I am the RN in charge of the Personal Care neighborhoods at work in PA. I manage the care of 50 residents with the assistance of LPNs, Med Techs, and nurse aides. I am on call most of the time, but do not receive too many calls. I have taught my staff how to manage most situations and am willing to teach them whatever they want to learn. Personal Care is heavily regulated and I incorporate the regulations into daily practice. I really enjoy my work.

[Marshall1]

What does YMMV mean?