Are you a real nurse?

nurse2002 · May 10, 2003

Originally posted by lgflamini
Why is that a reward?? Don't you WANT to keep the staff you hire?

I was wondering the same thing?????????????????

Rnltc · May 10, 2003

It is a reward as they are the nurses that think LTC is not real nursing. They are the ones that think LTC is easy and the ones who work in LTC are the nurses who can't make it in the real world of nursing (acute care).

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · May 10, 2003

Originally posted by Rnltc
It is a reward as they are the nurses that think LTC is not real nursing. They are the ones that think LTC is easy and the ones who work in LTC are the nurses who can't make it in the real world of nursing (acute care).

Hey, look out for that chip on your shoulder. Why on earth would they elect to get a nursing job in LTC if they thought it wasn't real nursing? Furthermore, I would love to find that acute care job that doesn't require critical thinking skills or multi-tasking. Why in the world would they leave such wonderful jobs where they don't have to think all by their little selves? You must be the hero of your facility to chase off such losers, geez.

Rustyhammer · May 11, 2003

Originally posted by joyflnoyz
Rusty, may I have your permission to print out your response and take it to work? It would be a great boost to the other nurses!

Sandy

absolutely

-R

fab4fan · May 11, 2003

I've had the opposite problem, as an ED nurse. NH sends resident to the ED, we work the pt up, treat him, etc. When I call the NH to give report, no one wants to listen to the report, the person taking report cuts you off, so you don't get to give a full report.

Of course, guess who calls an hour later after the pt has returned to the NH?

SmilingBluEyes · May 11, 2003

Rnltc.....what a weird way to feel "rewarded".......i think LTC can use all the help it can get; like russell says, few understand just HOW HARD IT IS and how we ALL MAY NEED IT ONE DAY......My hat is off to all LTC nurses/aides. You are needed and appreciated, even if you don't realize it!

petiteflower · May 11, 2003

I am an ER nurse---I couldn't do long term care nursing because it isn't my thing. I do not have the patience that it requires. It takes special qualities to do each type of nursing. The nurses I know that work long term care really LOVE those people, and I really respect that. It takes alot of compassion and understanding, and also an abitlity to deal with these patient's families on a long term basis. Many times, these nurses are all the family some of these people have. WE are ALL professionals, each speciality, and with the turmoil going on in the health care industry today, we should treat each others as such!!!!

duckie · May 11, 2003

I am so glad there are so many fields of nursing to choose from and we can each seek and find the one that it best for us. I believe to work in any area of nursing is a calling. You have to feel a passion for it, not just be there for a paycheck. In the past year, I have encountered many areas of nursing due to recent multiple trips to the ER and due to my husbands surgery. I could never be an ER nurse and I could never be an OR nurse and I hated hospital work, but place me in a room filled with elderly people needing TLC and love and I feel blessed to be their nurse. We are all important, we all matter, we all make a difference and the people we care for need us. This is not a competition, this is a profession. I recently wrote a letter to the administrator of the hospital where my husband had his surgery. Every nurse, tech, aid, and all other staff we encountered were given the highest rating by both my husband and myself. I was relieved with each caring smile, every encouraging word and every action of compassion. No one type of nursing is better than any other, it's just that some of us find our place where we excel and that's what makes us be the best we can be. And I will admit that there are nurses that are only in it for a check each week, they are the ones that ruin it for those of us that try so hard to bring compassion and caring to all the lives we touch. I love it when a nurse that is discharging a patient to my unit calls me with a report and if I am sending a patient to the ER, I call and give them the best report I can. I have spoken with some rude ones and some very informative nurses, but I also know that every person can have a really bad day and none of us are perfect, so i try not to judge. Please don't turn this thread into a " I'm better than you are because I work here" sort of thread. We are all needed and are equally as important. Duckie

**SKM-NURSIEPOOH, BSN, RN** · May 11, 2003

originally posted by rnltc
i have worked both sides and each have their own rewards. i am a dns and i always try and explain the details of being a ltc nurse to applicants who have only worked acute care. the peaceful reward i get is when these individuals can't even make through two weeks. they just can't handle not having a physician around 24/7 and support staff to pull from other floors. they can not multi-task.
ltc nursing is a very special field of its own. not all can handle it. we are the forgotten ones. but with each day that passes someone has smiled upon us........

...what i believe rnltc is saying regarding receiving a personal reward when these individuals can't & don't cut it in ltc is because they more than likely give-off the impression that ltc is either easy or beneath them. ten to one, most with this ideal really don't want to be in ltc & leave because they *found* something better. people with this attitude often leave acute care to get a break from it...i'll bet that these individuals were between jobs & just took the ltc positions until that so called *better* position came along.

i'm not either agreeing or condemning rnltc's personal feelings about the subject because i wasn't there personally to *see* & *hear* these people's stand about ltc & its nurses. but i could understand rnltc's pride for the nurses who do come from acute care & do stay & cut the mustard.

let's just stop attacking rnltc's feelings about this manner because they are valid to him/her & don't take what they're saying about the nurses that don't "make it" in ltc from acute care personally because they're not talking about or attacking you...unless you are one of those type of nurses that think they're a cut above ltc nurses.

cheers!

moe

p.s.....nice post duckie :smokin:

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · May 11, 2003

originally posted by skm-nursiepooh

i'm not either agreeing or condemning rnltc's personal feelings about the subject because i wasn't there personally to *see* & *hear* these people's stand about ltc & its nurses. but i could understand rnltc's pride for the nurses who do come from acute care & do stay & cut the mustard.

let's just stop attacking rnltc's feelings about this manner because they are valid to him/her & don't take what they're saying about the nurses that don't "make it" in ltc from acute care personally because they're not talking about or attacking you...unless you are one of those type of nurses that think they're a cut above ltc nurses.

i could most certainly understand a statement of pride regarding nurses who stay and can cut the mustard, however, the pride was expressed at the ones who can't- that is the attitude i don't get, and i stand by what i said in response to it. that being said, i certainly am not one of those nurses who think they're a cut above ltc nurses at all, and i never made one statement in that direction. i worked ltc for several years, and i know it's hard, hard work. i personally could never see myself taking on 30 or more patients ever again, and hats off to anyone who can handle this. i don't think most acute care nurses think you've got it easy at all, nor do they think ltc is not real nursing, at least i don't hear statements made like this at work. as for myself, i have no room to be a "nursing snob"- i am an lpn on a med/surg unit in the ghetto (not a glamourous position by any means). it is my niche, and i choose to stay there, but not because i couldn't hack it in ltc. most of the ltc patients that i get are usually hip fractures, or post-op amputees. they have been obviously well cared for in the nh they came from, and most of them can't wait to get back there. i think if any acute care nurses hold a biased (and i stress biased) view of ltc, it's related to patients coming to them with things like dehydration or uti's, and they have the attitude of "why wasn't this prevented?" they may not realize that you have 30 odd patients, and your patient is one of 10 feeders that have to be fed, etc. within a certain amt. of time, or that the patient won't take po, and the family refuses a g tube. or that you have alerted the dr. several times regarding a change in status, and he refuses to do anything about it. you are more appreciated than you know by others in the nursing community, and the ones who don't appreciate you, don't understand what you go through every day in your field. hopefully this clears things up a bit.

Rnltc · May 11, 2003

Wow...

What I was trying to make a point at and I guess didn't do a very good job at has been blown way out.

The original post was taking about people who think LTC is not real nursing. I was only trying to point out how during an interview of anyone who has never worked LTC and arrives with a "chip on their shoulder" I try as much as I can to explain the difference in LTC. Which I am so proud to be a part of.

I inform them first off I give an extremly long orientation period and the reason I do this is to make them successful. I want each and everyone of them to make it and stay. I will give them up to a full month and longer if needed.

I also expalin they will have up to 25-30 residents and they are the eyes and ears for the physicians. Physicians do not make daily rounds. They are only required to make rounds every 90 days and to get some of them to come in more often than that is almost impossible. They just want you to send them to the ED to be eval.

I do not try and discourage anyone one from trying, but at the same time I do a very indepth interview.

About 50% of nurses wanting to make a change find LTC to overwhelming.....they are not use to having and can't make the change in their thought process that there is not a Lab and xray just down the hall. There is not a physican somewhere in the building or a pharmacy. They do not have a ward clerk or nursing clerk to help with answering the phones and noting orders and filling out all the paper work.

This is why I give such a long orientation if they need and want it. I take the heat from the Corp. and get my butt chewed on often as it will put me over budget, but that is OK.

Most LTC buildings only give you 3-5days training. If you can even get that.

I am really sorry my message was so misunderstood. The "rewards" I was referring to was "LTC is real nursing" and after these individuals try and do make the change into LTC it gives them a whole new respect for LTC.

The rewards ment for the few nurses that come through the door of LTC with a "chip" and think it is easy and not "real nursing" that find out it is just as tough as any other nursing job.

Please forgive me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sbic56, BSN, RN · May 11, 2003

Rnltc

It was clear to me what you meant in your original post. I have worked acute and LTC, and while I have my preferences, I have nothing but respect for a good LTC nurse. There are times when the nurse in LTC is IT, in that when a life or death decision has to be made, it rests on the shoulders of the nurse in charge, because she is the first and last word at theat very moment.

That said, I have seen some not so competent nurses find a way to blend into LTC because they have very strong team members who can float them along for long periods of time. I have seen LTC units that were run better by a strong CNA than the nurse in charge. That in no way diminishes the excellence of the best LTC nurses, I'm just pointing out that it is easier to find a position in LTC where the minimally qualified nurse can hide behind the good decisons of other co-workers better than they could in an acute setting.