Assistant Resident Care Director info

roser13, ASN, RN · Oct 13, 2011

I suspect that the title is facility-specific and the salary likely is also.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Oct 13, 2011

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what's it all about, alfie?--help and support for assisted living ...

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Oct 20, 2011

I am a new LPN, and am wondering what exactly is an Assistant Care Director. What are the duties and what is the salary for this position? I was called in to interview for this position and need to make sure that I am completely prepared...

It sounds to me like the equivalent of what my ALF calls a Resident Care Coordinator. This person does exactly that---coordinates care with outside providers such as PT/OT/ST/Home Health, makes sure residents get to their doctors' appointments, arranges for durable medical equipment, audits MARs, does monthly recaps and quarterly physician's orders, and supervises/trains staff. My RCC also does the staff schedules (and works the floor when there's a call-in and nobody else is able/willing to substitute).

As an LPN, you would probably be in charge of overseeing the entire medication administration system and have some of the responsibility of evaluating potential move-ins. You probably would have at least a part-time RN available for the delegation and general supervision of duties, but some ALFs employ RNs only as consultants, who oversee multiple buildings within a designated area.

Salaries vary widely from state to state and company to company. As an Oregon assisted living RN, I've made as little as $20 an hour with no benefits (and that was as a regional!). I'm in a much better job now, and my starting salary was enough for me to allow my husband to retire last year at age 60. Salaried is the norm, which means you sometimes work more than 40 hours per week......well, more often than not. :) You will also probably be expected to be available by phone 24/7 for consultation, and that can be pretty wearing after about the third night in a row with a new med aide who doesn't quite have the routine down yet. But it can be a good job if you find the right place.

One caveat: I really don't recommend it to a new nurse for a number of reasons---part of it being lack of experience overall, but also not knowing how to be a supervisor/manager, and the likelihood of losing a lot of your clinical skills. (I STILL miss starting IVs, and my fingers literally itch sometimes when I'm sending someone out to the ER and the EMTs aren't getting the line in. :rolleyes: ) You won't likely be doing very many catheters, feeding tubes, dressing changes etc. But this job does require the ability to perform both quick and in-depth physical, emotional, and psychosocial assessments; and more than that, you get to know your residents well---their foibles, their personalities, their ways of climbing the curtains or going on crying jags when they start brewing a UTI. You'll become a detective of sorts, using clues to sort out what might be causing their weakness, or their falls, or their sudden personality changes, and you'll do so much darned paperwork you want to scream. But I wouldn't want to trade it for any other nursing job.

Good luck to you!