Does anyone LOVE long term care??

Specialties Geriatric

Published

:redbeathe Hi there everyone. I'm currently working in LTC as a certified nursing assistant, but am looking forward to becoming a LPN within the next year. So far, despite the intense stress, I love working in LTC. However, it seems like every LPN I come across hates the work they do in the nursing home. They are stressed, overworked, understaffed, underappreciated, etc etc... It's discouraging to say the least, and it is making me question whether or not I'll be happy working in a nursing home once I graduate my LPN program. Does anyone out there love working long term care?? I keep reading post after post on here about the horrors of being a nurse in that environment. I'd love to hear from anyone who can represent the flip side of the coin!

Thank you

Yes.:down: It is just too much. This old gal has no plans to go back to LTC. The only things I miss about LTC are the patients and the good paychecks. However, I now have time for a life. I did not have time to have a life when I worked LTC. I spent my days off exhausted trying to recover from my work week.

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Yes blackcat the money is better in LTC than in most places, but in all honesty I would rather have less money and not be worn and stressed to a frazzle. Any suggestions on other areas for LPNs? I mean I know the areas are limited, but sheesh there has to be something better! I had thought about checking into the assisted living communities, but didn't know if I would just be entering the same scenario. It is NOT the elderly I have a problem with. It is just the workload in the nursing homes.

Have a great day!

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I found assisted living facilities to be an easier workload but less money and more residents. However, at the assisted living facility where I worked there seemed to be much more calls to 911 for patient emergencies than in the long term care facility. I work private duty home care now and have only one patient to worry about. The pay is low but it is less stressful for me. Of course, if my money supply gets too low, I may have to do the unthinkable and maybe try to work a few days a month at a LTC to survive financially. I do know that I would never want to work full-time in LTC again.

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How much experience is usually required for home care? I think that is going to be my worst problem because I haven't worked that much yet. Thankfully I have a great "spousal unit" who makes pretty decent money. Whatever I find is going to have to be part-time because I have an elderly mom with me and I will need to be able to get her to doctor appointments. I just hope something will work out in the near future!

Have a great evening!

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Private duty home care prefers that a person have 1 year of nursing experience. However, I have heard several times on this site that some home care agencies have been in fact hiring new grads. However, in their nursing ads they don't say new grads OK. Their ads will usually say 1 year experience preferred or required. Best of luck to you.:nurse:

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Hi,

I recently graduated as an RN, without any experience in nursing. I am realizing now that this was a mistake, as I feel like I have no experience compared to other nurses. I started my job at a long term care facility in November, as an LPN, and graduated in December with my RN. I have found that I enjoy my job, but don't love it. I feel like I go into work each day (3-11 shift), am doing constant med passes, and if I happen to get an admission, or a fall occurs, my whole night is thrown off. There never seems to be enough time to spend with the residents, and truly care for them. I float between 4 different carts (depending on which night it is), with 26-28 residents per cart, and feel like I can never get a pattern down. We have to do treatments, feed residents, administer medications, and deal with any other incidents that may occur. Thankfully, we have wonderful CNAs at our facility, but it never seems to be enough, as there are much fewer staff on evening shift. We are constantly answering call bells, and taking residents to the bathroon, which I honestly don't mind doing, but there just never seems to be any time. I feel like I am providing poor care because we basically have time to go in, administer meds, and hope that nothing else goes wrong. I do try to talk to each of my residents for a few minutes, but I end up getting out late almost every single night. Does anyone else feel this way? It's not that the job is hard, but that there just isn't enough time, and the stress is unbelievable...I'm on my 6th month now, and wondering if it is going to get any better?

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I can't promise it will get any better.

The bottom line is that owners of nursing homes want money and do care about the residents, just their monthly payment. They do not care about nurses, or staffing issues, and would not staff a single employee if they could somehow just store these patients in rooms, and leave them there without staff to care for them, and get away with it.

The company I work for does the bare minimum for its residents and its employees. We have a terrible schedule, horrendous benefits that are only available to nurses, and no sick days. We get a 30 minute lunch break that is deducted from our paychecks whether we are able to take it or not. We are on our own for uniforms and meals. In the two+ years I have worked at the nursing home, I have NEVER had a ten minute break, of which I am supposed to have two per day.

We have no prn staff, so call-ins, which are constant, are not covered, increasing the workload for staff. There are no special requests for days off, so we are not allowed to attend birthday parties, weddings, funerals, or graduations unless we call in - leaving the facility short staffed.

Nursing homes are businesses and that's it. While we nurses went to school thinking we could extend care to people while working in the profession, working in a nursing home makes it almost impossible. I often say "if you are going to do it right, it's very hard to do."

That's why MOST nurses do not seem to do the job in its entirety. At least that is what I have discovered. Something has to give, and it's usually patient care.

It's very sad, but that's the way I see it.

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No it isn't going to get any better...and as I just posted a second ago on another thread..I have pretty much decided to give notice at the second LTC I have worked at.... and if LTC is the only place I can work as an LPN I will not be working anymore. It is just too much. I was called in to the facility again today for some BS and because I was vocal about this being ridiculous I had a BS write up waiting on me when I got there pertaining to the fact I didn't read someone's PPD on a certain date. It is amazing how nothing has been said about anything I did until this new DON took over this month. No complaints since I started there in January and now there is something wrong with everything I chart.

Oh well perhaps Walmart is hiring eh?

Hope you guys have a great evening!

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No it isn't going to get any better...and as I just posted a second ago on another thread..I have pretty much decided to give notice at the second LTC I have worked at.... and if LTC is the only place I can work as an LPN I will not be working anymore. It is just too much. I was called in to the facility again today for some BS and because I was vocal about this being ridiculous I had a BS write up waiting on me when I got there pertaining to the fact I didn't read someone's PPD on a certain date. It is amazing how nothing has been said about anything I did until this new DON took over this month. No complaints since I started there in January and now there is something wrong with everything I chart.

Oh well perhaps Walmart is hiring eh?

Hope you guys have a great evening!

Perhaps you should have just said you had read it, but forgot to chart it, as you were too busy or something suddenly came up, like someone's blood pressure.

Unfortunately, where we work, half of what is charted wasn't done and half of what was done wasn't charted. Unfortunately, it paints a picture, but not an accurate one.

What's funny is when we are yelled at for not charting everything. When our census is down, everything gets charted. When every bed is full of any kind of patient they can get, we are so overextended that we can only do the minimum.

But at least the owner gets paid more, and that seems to be all that matters to him.

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I don't know Eldragon... I am just really bummed about this entire situation. I wanted to be a nurse so badly. The residents really seem to love me and this weekend position was what I needed to be able to take care of my mom and also go back to school in the summer to finish my RN. It is like I have seen both ends of the spectrum with LTC since first going to work in November of last year. The first place I went to work at was so horrible it was unbelievable... didn't care about the residents at all... this place is so freaking anal that they are trying to dot every i and cross every t I guess (at least where I am concerned). It is just like I told them today... I realize I am a newbie and have much to learn, but I have done the very best I can each time I have worked.... I have put forward 110%.

I am really across a barrel because with mom... I can't really work full time since I have no one to help get her to her appointments so I honestly don't know what I am going to do. If you can get a position at a doctor's office they are definitely going to want full time so.... Hopefully something will work out.

Thank you for allowing me to vent!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Hospice, Palliative Care.

Like most of you, I have a love/hate relationship with LTC: I love the patients, hate the baloney that goes along with the job. I'm fortunate to work with some terrific CNAs, but dread the shifts when they are not there. The amount of paperwork (we're part computer charting, part paper - ugh!!) can drive me nuts. Our facility is pretty nice, and we have a great DON (she's a nurses's nurse, if you know what I mean - she started ages ago as an LPN and isn't above putting someone on a bedpan).

I have 29 patients, and it is a mixture of long term care and short term rehab; and unfortunatley, the LTC folks get the short end of the stick since we have to provide "hotel like service" to the rehab patients. This drives me nuts, but I try my best to give the best sevice to everyone.

What I really worry about is this: nursing education seems to be based on the idea that you do hands on skills in clinicals, get your diploma, and then you get your license. Throughtout our nursing program, they kept telling us that our facility would train us...don't worry, you'll learn that once you get on the job...etc. And once you get on the job, you are expected to know everything! The best place to learn is a hosptial where you will see a bit of everything and really learn thru their educational inservices, but it is almost impossible to get a job as an LPN in a hospital, so to me it seems that I am missing a big chuck of education. I'm surrounded by stacks of books and am working on my RN online, but I always worry that I miss subtle things because I don't have experience. (And, our sup isn't to keen to get off of her duff to help. I've got to grab another nurse if I want a second opinion.)

Sorry for the rant,

e

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I don't know Eldragon... I am just really bummed about this entire situation. I wanted to be a nurse so badly. The residents really seem to love me and this weekend position was what I needed to be able to take care of my mom and also go back to school in the summer to finish my RN. It is like I have seen both ends of the spectrum with LTC since first going to work in November of last year. The first place I went to work at was so horrible it was unbelievable... didn't care about the residents at all... this place is so freaking anal that they are trying to dot every i and cross every t I guess (at least where I am concerned). It is just like I told them today... I realize I am a newbie and have much to learn, but I have done the very best I can each time I have worked.... I have put forward 110%.

I am really across a barrel because with mom... I can't really work full time since I have no one to help get her to her appointments so I honestly don't know what I am going to do. If you can get a position at a doctor's office they are definitely going to want full time so.... Hopefully something will work out.

Thank you for allowing me to vent!

There are other jobs out there. I just accepted a different position two days ago. This one will have me as a float nurse at a small country hospital. I will work as a floor nurse, in the ER, or in the clinic; wherever they need me.

After two + years in SNF and LTC, I'm ready for something else!

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