What is a typical lpn day like?

wow, I have to hand it to all you ltc nurses. I knew after my first clinical day in nursing school that there was no way that I could work in that environment and have steered clear of it. What you all go through on a day to day basis and keep going back for more is incredible. I work er and may shift is way different that you all's (can i write that?). I work nights so the unit is crazy when I get there at 1845. I look for my assignment, try to find the previous nurse assigned to that room and take a peek at the charts to find out what is going on with the pt. I make sure I get an update from the outgoing nurse, as for some reason a lot of them like to skip out without giving report. I also make sure that all the night nurses have arrived, as it would be my biggest nightmare to be even shorter than we are, and I also look at the 'in' box, to see how many we have in the waiting room. Then we just run with it...trying to keep our heads above water. Sometimes I come in and have a bad pt in one of my trauma rooms so I end up straight in that room, stuck till they transfer out if need be and hope that the other nurses or supervisor picks up my other rooms if i need them to. Otherwise its the ebb and flow of er, thankfully we often get a lull in the early a.m. although that makes the night stretch into forever. Guess that's about it. :)

A night in Private Duty (one patient)

11pm - Get report from Mom. Eyeball my pt and her equipment. Check tube feeding residual, give 11pm med. Assessment and vital signs. Check O2 and pulse-ox monitor. Start a movie or music for pt to listen to.

11:30pm - Give meds.

12:00am - Check diaper. Peri-care if needed. Turn pt. Give breathing tx (CPT if needed). Clean G-Tube site. Passive ROM exercises.

1:00am - Eat something. Read book while keeping an eye on pt and pulse-ox monitor.

2:00am - Check diaper. Peri-care if needed. Turn pt.

2:30am - Clean equipment (suction, nebulizer, G-tube)

3:00am - Check washer & dryer for pt's laundry. Read book while keeping an eye on pt and pulse-ox monitor.

4:00am - Check diaper. Peri-care if needed. Turn pt.

4:30am - Paperwork (I save my paperwork for later because this is about the time I get sleepy and it helps keep me awake)

5:00am - Give bed bath if pt is wide awake and I see that she is wearing the same thing that she was the night before.

6:00am - Breathing tx (CPT if needed). Check diaper. Peri-care if needed. Turn pt. Oral care. Wash face. Style hair.

6:30am - Check vital signs. Finish charting.

7:00am - Give report to Mom.

I love my job. :)

Hi, just dropping a line to say hi to all, and how all is going in the world of nursing... am about to start a job and am a little nervous... I hope all turns out ok... What is a typical day for an lpn like? can anyone describe their own experiences?

Thanks

jessica

Well, did you start your new job yet? How is it? Are you in long-term care or another setting?

I've had most of my 19 yrs as an LPN in LTC; the worst facility was the last one I just left. Here's a typical day:

Pull out a blank assignment sheet and stsrt filling it out, writing down the 20 or ore pts who are on "alert" for condition/behavior changes.Determine which CNAs chose to show up, ask the noc nurse if calls have been made to get coverage if we have insufficient staff. Get report, count narcs. Do CBGs, give insulins. Peek in on any "unstable" pts, do a quick assessment. Start treatments after the pts hve their breakfasts---or at least try to start treatments--more often than not, will get paged overhead to answer a call from an MD or family member(when oftentimes there are RCMs or other nurses sitting at the desk who could field those questions). Often will begin a treatment and get interrupted many times and maybe get it finished an hour or so later after calls have been answered, pts have been toileted, call bells have been answered(because the CNAs are all busy answering lights or showering pts or they are taking break). Do a little charting on pts I've assessed before all the charts disappear in the 1-2hr morning meeting room with the RCMS/DON, etc. Check labs, transcribe any new orders after the MD makes rounds(once a week), answer phones because the unit clerk is already answering 1 or 2 other lines. I try to get a couple 5-min smoke breaks in--seldom ever get lunch because there are constant interruptions during the "lunch". Leave work 2-3 hrs late like all the other nurses without lunches because there is simply NOT enough time to do it all.

I now work in group homes with 3-5 clients. One home has 3 clients and 2-4 staff including me! Another home has 5 clients with same # staff.:) Much more relaxed! Get report, drink some coffee, do some cleaning (or set up tube feeding bags/bottles with scheduled tube feeding throughout the night for the 3-client home), read or watch tv while listening for one client who has a bed alarm , do room checks every hour or two, do some cleaning,read, watch tv, check one client's CBG, treat accordingly, give a med a couple times a night. What a wonderful change after years of running my rear off down those LTC hallways!

Well I am a Alheimers LTC nurse and here goes. (Medicare unit)

1. Just peek through the secured doors to see if the night nurse has her head on the desk. A sure sign I need to go home ,as well As if they start waving you to the desk.

2. Take report through all the screaming of patients " I need to find my car I have a dinner date with the Govener" or " I need to call 911 there is someone in my house".

3. Make sure all the staff is there, sometimes we dont get this important information.

4. See who needs accuchecks/ insulin. We have a nurse for meds.

5. I have 30 people to do assessments and medicare charting on so I get busy. Doing treatments and tube feedings along the way.

6. By this time we start to have some behaviors and I start looking for the ones that might need meds.

7. And I repeat # 5 and 6 for most of the day. I put out fires between staff and families

8. I dont get a chance to have a break or lunch I just order out and eat while charting. I work with another nurse we both do the same thing.

9. Alot of my day is making sure these little people stay safe, keeping them inside and off the floor things like that.

10. I also do Poop patrol making sure we dont have any spreaders !!! KNOW WHAT I MEAN...

11 I rarely get out on time and when I do Im to tired to walk to the door. And if I make it outside I have been with the alzheimers patients so long I forget where my car is!!!!

Wow~deja vu...I too am an alzheimers LTC nurse. One difference, I work the 3-11 shift, the one with all the sundowners. Its absolutely amazing how one single person can be the absolute sweetest person in the daytime, but as soon as it hits nighttime-shes calling me every name in the book, telling to go jump in the river and taking a few swings at the same time, some making contact. Here is my typical day-

1. Clock in about 2:45.

2. Reach my unit and try to make it to the nurses station without being bombarded by my little people.

3. Get report and count narcs, again w/o being attacked by the little people.

4. From then, I start on meds. It usually takes me the whole 2 hours to pass them. Its hard to pass meds to someone who thinks youre in the FBI and is wanting to poison them.

5. Then on to the insulins and accu checks. Again, coming to the Alzheimers pt with a needle and trying to explain to them that they need it is not the easiest thing in the world.

6. Help the CNA pass out trays, or pass them out myself when were short staffed. Feed. Clean up the disaster area that was once our dining room.

7.Give peg tube feeding to one res, in hopes that the feeding will go down her and not all over me.

8. Start on 8 o clock meds. Again, refer to 4.

9. Do HS accu checks and insulins.

10.Do HS peg tube feeding.

11. Around 11 (the time I get off) I start my charting. This is usually the time that I get my lunch break, also eating while I'm charting!

In a perfect world, there would be no complications. In my world, theres the nightly anxiety attack from one, the taking off clothes and streaking of another, and the long trail of brown stuff down the hallway that you're praying to God it's not what you think it is, and tracking down the culprit. I sometimes relate myself to a camp counselor or kindergarten teacher, but I love my job and wouldn't trade it or my "little people" for anything in the world.