Can anyone share their experience on working in a nursing home?

[heartnursing]

I am a BSN student going into my second year in fall 2010 , I have completed my first year sucessfully and passed my first clinical. I have been hired at a local nursing home and I was just wondering what should I expect?

I have never really been in a nursing home or have had family in one so this is really new to me...

So any insight, exp, or advice would be super helpful!

Thanks :)

[marielina85]

i've worked in 2 nursing homes. One was a night shift job, so i was responsible for 60 residents on 2 different floors, with one cna on each floor. It was quite an eye-opener! It was my first job when i was an lpn, and i learned time management skills very quickly! The other job was my second rn job, at a nursing home with a rehab unit, and i worked on the rehab unit during the day, was responsible for 48 post-surgical patients, and i could never find my one cna. Very disturbing. That 48:1 sub-acute patient to nurse ratio was criminal in my mind!

I'm not trying to scare you, but many people feel that new grads shouldn't work in ltc. It's very easy to get behind in your med passes and treatments (have you ever tried to pass meds and do accuchecks for 30 - 60 (sometimes up to 90!) residents in 2 hours? You are only allowed 2 hours per med pass by law (regardless of how many residents you have responsibility for!), and the state will visit and observe at least yearly, and they will not care that you are by yourself, or that it is impossible to really do that! Trust me, the facility will throw you under the bus when the state dings them for that.), and you are very open to lawsuits and license issues. Most nursing homes are for-profit, private corporations, and they are usually not at all interested in providing good care or safety for either the residents or the staff.

However, if you can get past the feeling that you could lose your license any day, and you can find creative ways to keep up, it can be so rewarding. The relationships you build with the residents can be exactly what you had in mind when you decided to become a nurse. You become their family, and they, in a way, become yours. You get the feeling you really are making a difference, in a way that you might never feel at the bedside in a hospital. You have to be ready to really advocate for your residents. Often, they have no family to visit or speak up for them. They need and deserve great nurses.

It's not for the faint of heart, and it can be emotionally draining when they pass away, but it can be the "best worst job" (a former classmate of mine used to call it that) you'll ever have! You just have to go into it with your eyes wide open. Good luck!

omg i luved ur post!!!everything u say here is so true.