describe your typical day as a nurse

Libby1987 · Jul 13, 2015

Home Health

Love the patient interactions and nursing actions required.

Paperwork is time consuming.

Money is very good for the schedule I work.

My day is full of lots of little wins and an occasional big win.

My day consists of driving, patient visits, assessments/treatments/teaching, phone calls, a lot of charting.

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2015

No matter what anyone says on here remember you have people on here who are Students, CNAs, LPNs, RNs, and god knows what else. If someone says it is "awful" you really don't know what is going on with them. They could be horrible employees and that is why they don't like it. Or they could just be full of it.

It is a demanding career and is also rewarding.

hvymtlnursetobe · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks for your info libby what kind of schedule do you work? Is the life to work balance good?

hvymtlnursetobe · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks windsurfer i understand that everyone has their own experiences, good & bad and am open to hearing both sides :-) but yes th negative sides do intimidate me slightly

Libby1987 · Jul 13, 2015

I work a mon-fri daytime flex schedule and there's always a part timer who wants to take my call but I worked myself into this. When I first started I worked at least a weekend a month and had to take call which included evening visits.

Work life balance has been very good.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jul 13, 2015

When I worked as an LVN in long term locked down psych and dementia units, my day went like this:

Get to the floor before my clock in time. One facility had a 7 minute window in which I could click on early. I did this in order to show the other nurse I had arrived.

I'd ask the off going nurse if s/he wanted to give report 1st or count narcs first.

As an Lvn in ltc, the med pass was heavy (45-54 pts to 1 nurse) so I'd start pouring meds into labeled containers with pt names as soon as I arrived.

Start med pass as early as possible. Ie if meds are due at 5, I'd plan to pass them between 4-6. (Yes med pass took a long time)

I'd sign Mars if time.

Take my break(s) if time.

Prep for next med pass. Pass meds.

Finish signing Mars.

If u wasn't finished signing Mars, I'd stop to Get my report sheet ready for the next nurse early. In my facilities, this included prns given, fsbs # and insulin units, behaviors, etc.

I'd also try to Double check my narc counts so no discrepancies came up during report.

I always planned to be ready for the next nurse to take report as soon as she arrived. (If I needed to finish signing Mars, I'd do that later, rather than hold up the other nurse taking the cart by not being ready to give report to her/him)

I think that working as an RN in an acute setting would be different. The ratio is lower but the acuity is much higher.

I see the nurses I'm doing clinicals with fill out a brain sheet 1st thing. Their brain sheets include meds, abnormal labs, and other orders they need to check on. Then they chart assessments within About an hour of coming on, then they check the items off of their brain as they do them.

Yes, I enjoyed my job as a psych nurse and a nurse on a dementia unit.

The above schedule described my job as a medication nurse. But I've also worked as charge in an acute psych unit, med nurse in acute psych, and an "administrative" type nurse in long term psych. In each role my job duties and the pace varied. I described my most difficult type of job to you. If you can pass meds on time in ltc, everything else in long term care or non medical acute

is cake! Lol!

hvymtlnursetobe · Jul 13, 2015

Great to hear libby ... By the way if you dont mind me asking..what kind of nurse are you and how long have you been in this profession?

Libby1987 · Jul 13, 2015

I'm an RN, my position is home health case manager.

I have roughly 18 yrs in home health.

hvymtlnursetobe · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks for the info vintagemother did you enjoy your time as an LVN?

hvymtlnursetobe · Jul 13, 2015

How long did it take to be a case manager? and how did you become a case manager?

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks for the info vintagemother did you enjoy your time as an LVN?

Yes!! And I added more to my post to clarify this. I truly truly enjoyed working in long term care settings. I got to know the residents well. I got to follow them for months, years, of their recovery process. I miss my residents now. I'm currently in an rn bridge program and am fortunate to have the opportunity to not work. Though going to work was never a problem. I was paid well to do my job. Bittersweet endings.