Do you like working in Assisted Living??

AnxiousStrawberry · Jun 10, 2010

I work in assisted living both in the regular unit as well the the dementia unit. We have 8 hours shifts.

For the regular assited living the typical day goes as follows: receive report, start 2-3 loads of laundry, stock rooms with towels and supplies and remove trash, take a few people (maybe 2-3 to the bathroom), check oxygen tanks, bring/call residents to the dinning room, help with serving food, clean up dinning room, go to lunch myself, start a few more loads of laundry, begin PM care (we typically have 2-3 showers each a night). On this side we have about 25 residents per CNA, which sounds like a lot! However quite a few are still pretty independent and you just check on, others need really simple things like having their ted stockings removed, other than the showers we only have 2-3 that need a decent amount of assistance getting ready. Then we finish up the laundry and do our paper work. Oh! and i cant forget answering call bells, they go off constantly over there!!

Over in the dementia unit things are a little different. We 3 nursing assistants, we come in and one will take people to the bathroom, another will do activites, and the 3rd will do some small activities and get things ready for dinner. Then we serve dinner, and clean up and go on breaks. Activities and bathroom breaks continue until we serve snack. Then we do our PM care. Over here between 3 of us we have 24 pts all together, so about 8 per person.

rosey2007cna · Jun 10, 2010

Some of these places are okay but some our not. My friend worked in a place where she had 2 floors of residents that she had to take care of. She told me that it was a regular thing to find a resident on the floor because they had to wait too long to go to the bathroom.

I have worked in a couple of assisted living places myself and did not think too much of them. They had residents there who really belonged in skilled nursing.

DreamyEyes · Jun 10, 2010

I work in an assisted living facility. Honestly, I do love my job but the workload can be a bit crazy. In addition to doing laundry, vital signs, blood sugars, toileting, showers, serving dinner (I work the 3-11 shift), etc. we have a LOT of residents that are needing more & more complete care each night. We even have some residents who can only be transferred with a hoyer. Some nights are crazy & you don't even have time to pee or eat something. Other nights are more relaxed, and you actually have some downtime at the end of the night.

I do love my job, I just wish we had more staff to care for our residents! But that seems to be a common complaint in nursing, and something I don't see changing anytime soon.

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2010

Some of these places are okay but some our not. My friend worked in a place where she had 2 floors of residents that she had to take care of. She told me that it was a regular thing to find a resident on the floor because they had to wait too long to go to the bathroom.
I have worked in a couple of assisted living places myself and did not think too much of them. They had residents there who really belonged in skilled nursing.

Too true!!!!

I have worked in an ALF for a year. And IMO it should be a nursing home.My other job is at a nursing home & the residents there are just like the ones at my ALF.The number of residents who need minimal assistance are very very few;I think out of 49 residents(our building can hold 64 ) probably about 10 need minimal assistance. Since our budget is so low, our RSD is talking about bringing more residents in who need more "hands-on" care. In the last couple of months we have had residents in geri-chairs & catheters.Our # of falls is the highest in our company district. When they fall like that, I think its in their best interest to get them a special bed(like the ones in the nursing home) and lower it all the way to the floor, use chair alarms on their wheelchairs and other measures.But instead the falls get blamed on us :uhoh3: Most of the staff are not certified nursing assistants,either. Now the company who owns our facility is saying that they will only hire CNAs for the facility. Next the workload: not only do we have to perform the same duties that a CNA in a nursing home does, we have to do laundry, fix the residents plates, do the dishes, and mop.

I really hate this place. I guess ALFs aren't regulated the way nursing homes are, but IMO they should be.

BeJuled · Jun 10, 2010

MiiszKimberlyCNA what state/area are you in if you don't mind me asking??

I'm getting worried about working at a ALF now!!

Thank you guys for all of your input though!! :)

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2010

MiiszKimberlyCNA what state/area are you in if you don't mind me asking??
I'm getting worried about working at a ALF now!!
Thank you guys for all of your input though!! :)

I'm in Maryland. From what I'm told, the smaller ALFs are a lot better than the ones who are owned by large companies.

LaterAlligator · Jun 14, 2010

I work at an AL facility part time on evening shift (2-10 pm) and so far I really like it. Typical shift for me is to have 8-10 residents who need help with ADL's (escorting to dining room & back, toileting, showers, transferring, etc.) and another 8-10 who are just "safety checks" meaning I need to see them at some point during the shift to be sure they're all right. There are usually 3 of us aides on per shift. We don't do everyone's vitals every day, just on the 1st and 15th, and then extras if any residents have new meds/changes in condition. It's definitely enough of a workload to keep us fairly busy, but as long as no one calls out (like this week, which meant we were short staffed :mad: ) then it's a manageable load. I think the most important factor is whether or not the place accepts residents who should be in skilled nursing or not. Mine usually doesn't, which makes it a pretty good place to work. :up: