Assisted living or LTC??

eldragon · Apr 3, 2008

Perhaps you could try both places and see how you like it?

kstec, LPN · Apr 4, 2008

Well from what I know assisting living has next to no assessment skills that will be utilized except in rare circumstance, but you also have no poop, or pee to clean up. In LTC care, your assessment skills will flourish. It's you and thirty+ residents, alot who cannot speak for themselves, so you have to be there voice, but listening, observing, touching, watching and cueing(sp) in on any abnormalities and you have to learn to think independently so you know what you report and how to report it, and what you think might be beneficial in the residents particular situation. I've encountered a few times when something bad happened with a resident and somewhere in the back of my brain where all that stuff I didn't think I'd ever use had to come gushing forward for me to either help someone or actually save someone's life. So that's my input, you obviously have to decide. Good Luck in whatever you choose.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Apr 4, 2008

Well from what I know assisting living has next to no assessment skills that will be utilized except in rare circumstance, but you also have no poop, or pee to clean up. In LTC care, your assessment skills will flourish. It's you and thirty+ residents, alot who cannot speak for themselves, so you have to be there voice, but listening, observing, touching, watching and cueing(sp) in on any abnormalities and you have to learn to think independently so you know what you report and how to report it, and what you think might be beneficial in the residents particular situation. I've encountered a few times when something bad happened with a resident and somewhere in the back of my brain where all that stuff I didn't think I'd ever use had to come gushing forward for me to either help someone or actually save someone's life. So that's my input, you obviously have to decide. Good Luck in whatever you choose.

I disagree. Assisted living nursing is all about assessment skills---if you don't have them, you won't make it in this field. Plus, ALF is much higher acuity than it used to be; my facility has a number of incontinent residents as well as those with dementia, sliding scale diabetics, and others with relatively complex medical issues. It's definitely not as hard physically as LTC, but you use a lot more skills than you'd think.......and yes, there is the occasional emergency when you'd BETTER know your stuff or a resident can die before the paramedics arrive!

scrapgirl2000 · Apr 16, 2008

I agree with vivalasviejas! I too work at an AL facility ( 1st nursing job after nursing school ). The physical work is little to none (we have caregivers), so the majority of our work is patient assessment and response to critical situations. Our residents are elderly, so we see a lot falls, CVA's, MI's, etc. We also have hospice residents that can decline quickly. You need to rely on your critical thinking skills to get you through the day, because you need to decide quickly if the resident is going out BLS, 911 or okay to monitor. Many of these residents have alzheimers, dementia and are diabetic so their symptoms may be maksed or they may not be able to tell you what is wrong. It takes some detective work and a ton of assessing to get to the bottom of what's going on sometimes. I have read so many times that even though you may take care of patients with feeding tubes and vents in a SNF, the nurses are forced to cut corners, deal with horrible staffing and patient ratios and put their license and patients at risk. I feel that I made the right choice working in AL because I am getting great nursing experience, our supervisor really appreciates us and respects our input, the hours and benefits are great and I am not putting my license at risk and am not forced into cutting corners. I have worked as a CNA in a SNF before becoming a nurse, and let me say that you could not pay me enough to work at a SNF! I know from experience many of the bad things that happen all too often there.