Are there better working conditions than SNF and ADHC?

[papaya8]

This question is for all nurses. Does anyone know if the hospital (which unit?) or anywhere else really have a slower pace, less physical labor, and less stress than a nursing home or adult day health care center. the workload is so high there that its burning me out. the snf i was taking care of 30-35 pts. and in adhc help out 50-100 pts. /day. i am a new grad lvn in california too. there seems to be like no ratio and laws in those facilities which isn't right. it really questions me if i should or should not get the rn becuase i really dont want terrible hard labor constant work conditions again. is the hospital any better?

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

I dunno. I guess it depends on what you are used to and how that particular unit is staffed. My mother normally works as an LPN on a gyne med surg/ onocology floor. When she gets floated to post partum she loves it and talks about what a nice break it is. I think it will all depend.

[lpnflorida]

The least physically taxing floor I ever worked was Psych. That did not mean however that we never did anything physical. Code NP's ( emergency patient out of control) could be very physical. I found it to be very emotionally and mentally tiring.

Much more so than working on a Medical floor . Utopia does not exist in my estimation. Every unit has its good points and down side.

[Quaffetti]

I worked in a nursing home for several years before going to a tele floor in a hospital. And I have to say, that no matter how stressed and overworked I feel at the hospital, it is nothing like having to work in a nursing home.

At the SNF, I was responsible for 25 pts as an RN, plus I usually had just 2 aides to help me, and every pt was complete and total care. Very physically demanding, as well as emotionally draining because no matter how good of care you gave, it was never enough.

The hospital is more stressful in the sense that the pts are more acute and can go bad at any moment, but the physical demands and workload are so much less. At the hospital I have 4 pts, and usually only 1 or 2 of them are "total care."