BSN student working in LTC as a CCA

[078207]

I recently finished 1/4th of my BSN and completed my first clinical at a LTC facility, which I loved. In the past two weeks I started working as a CCA in another LTC facility in a casual position. The facility has 8 wings with 24 in each.

I had a great time during clinical, I had no problem managing patient load or doing care for people that required full assistance and a lift into their w/c and didn't have dementia. But I only had to care for two people.

Now working as a cca, i'm very overwhelmed and most of my shifts have been on the dementia units. What i'm finding hard about the job is the patient load, I don't know my residents, I don't know their care plan, their triggers, or basic things like can they get out of their w/c to toilet and then walk to bed. I do ask questions, but sometimes you're just by yourself and have no one to ask.

My most overwhelming shift so far was an evening shift where 20 dementia residents had to be put to bed, and given their night lunch. I was the only cca on the floor and the LPN was passing out meds. We had to pull CCAs from different floors to come help me put 2 person assists and lifts to bed. As a new CCA this was a lot to take in. If anyone has any suggestions or tips on how I can manage this load, please let me know.