The Sad Things In My Nursing Home That I Cant Change!

nurseofalltrades · Mar 9, 2008

You have no idea how true that scenario is....We have a major shortage also. I feel guilty if I dont stop what Im doing to help the little lady who has been ringing her bell for minutes cause she just needs an assist to the bathroom. No one can help me to pass my pills but yet I find myself helping the aides get their chores done. The residents dont have to suffer because we are short staffed and run ragged.....YAY to all of us nurses who lend a helping hand!!!!! :yeah:

wearingmanyhats, RN · Mar 9, 2008

i am glad to see that i am not alone... i all too often find that my work is not getting finished because i too am helping someone go to the bathroom, shutting off the alarm for the 100th time in an hour, and where are my cna'a???? out on break..... or spending forever with mrs jones who's family is a major pia..... or once again, we are down an aide.....

but what does administration worry about..... "that call bell has been ringing....." soooo??????? answer it, and find me some more help!!!

i was a patient in the hospital about 5 yrs ago.... and the only time i saw a warm body, was for vs and meds.... no one stopped in once and awhile to be sure that i was safe or did i need anything (i was post op.....)

faye

MzMouse · Mar 9, 2008

but what does administration worry about..... "that call bell has been ringing....." soooo??????? answer it, and find me some more help!!!

so true. my manager finally popped her head out of her office on an especially crazy day to find out why a room light was ringing. huh...we are all tied up with other patients!!! maybe you could answer it?

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2008

This is really a sore spot for me, I worked in a nursing home for a year and it was exactly as how you described, except I can add one thing, I worked 3rd shift and we ALWAYS ran out of linens, there were some nights we could only do two bed checks/changes vs 3 because we were out of sheets and only had just enough for morning.

Soon I began calling the parent hospital who owned us and requested two blue bags of clean linens at the start of my shift. This worked for about 2 weeks till I was told I could no longer put in a request for linens after 3pm. Well my shift began at 10pm! The day staff apparently never noticed the linen shortage

One night we cut up bath blankets to use as washcloths as the facility had taken away our wet wipes to wash the patients bottoms as too many were getting flushed down the toilet so we had to use wash cloths and water instead. Well when we ran out of washcloths in the night, we did what we thought was the only option, to cut the bath blankets into small squares and use.

Guess what? We all got wrote up for it, destruction of property!!

We were told if certain patients didnt "Hoard" wash cloths and towels this wouldnt be a problem, and from now on we needed to do wash cloth search of the patients room each shift to make sure they didnt have more than the alloted 2! In the future if we found ourself in the situation with no wash cloths we were to use paper towels. OK yes that works great on someone with a sore red bottom!!!!!

But what is the solution to the problem??? I firmly believe it starts at the top and moves down. Management must make core changes, first and foremost improving staffing!!!!

This is really something we need to fix. If we dont already, each of us someday will have a loved one in a nursing home type of facility. I want to make a difference and change things, but how?

dcnballmom, ASN, RN · Mar 9, 2008

I know your situation too well - I was in nursing home for 15 years before I had to make the decision that it was either them or me - We were bought out by a corporation that of course is more interested in making money than caring about the residents. I worked 2 wings, was responsible for 42 residents and 4 GNA's - and they wondered why I had so much overtime. I just couldnt let call bells ring while the office nurses sat behind the desk and griped because my paperwork wasnt done for the day, or I missed calling a family member about a hangnail - and heaven forbid that one of them not have a bowel movement for 2 days. - I miss my patients, I hear they ask about me - I miss their families because they came to depend on me when no one else would step in on their behalf - I DONT miss the aggrevation when my staff had 6 people to feed at one time, or the 5 pages of paperwork that had to be done for the above hangnail ( well maybe thats exageration but sure seemed like it) - I dont miss the office nurses telling me how to run my floor while they sat and drank coffee and ate donuts and put in MDS that the floor nurses did ( along with everything else). Long term care is a mess right now, I am glad that I had the experience of it, but unless the upper management or the federal government step in someplace, its not the greatest place to work anymore. Hope that changes before I need it.

prowlingMA · Mar 9, 2008

Having worked in LTC as caregiver and med aid I know where you are coming from.

Just remember it is those moments when you are frustrated and hopeless that that you are doing a Great Job. Your heart and love will show through to the patients and their family . At the end of the day you can know that you help someone who couldn't help themselves, you loved the unloved, and gave to the needing. You are amazing. :yeah:

Simplepleasures · Mar 9, 2008

I see that LTC hasn't improved in the 3 years Ive been gone from nursing. So sad, when will things ever change, how can we as nurses help bring about change? Or can we?

egglady, LPN · Mar 10, 2008

My facility was just bought out by a "for- profit" corporation. I will miss my residents, there families, and my staff. When this sort of thing happnes, you find yourself wondering "why? What is my purpose?" I can not and dont want to work anywhere other than LTC, and mine was the best!! We werent short staffed, we had time to spend with the res., and there families. I gave almost 18 years of my life to that one place, as a cna and an lpn and this is the thanks i get from the management- sold to the highest bidder..... I feel for them when they need a place to go.

karleb, RN · Mar 10, 2008

I am glad and sad that I am not alone with the same problems at the LTC facility I work at as a med nurse. Call bells going off left and right and where is everyone? Out on cigarette breaks! Yes, a LOT of smokers (but not everyone) in this facility take a smoke break every hour. Not kidding! I feel guilty taking 30 minutes out of 12 hours for a break where I can sit and shove down my lunch.

From what I can tell, the "excuses" for allowing hourly smoke breaks?

- short staffed (maybe afraid they will quit?)

- admin friends with the offenders

- some members of mgmt do the same thing

I just feel so bad for the residents who sit in their doorway while their light has been on for sometimes 30 minutes. I help some but I would NEVER get the meds out if I helped all the time.

Aside from the call lights, I just feel terrible for some of these residents. Some have no family, some have families but they don't visit. The staff ARE these people's family. I try to do what I can to brighten someone's day. I ALWAYS wear a smile (I'm a "smiley" person anyway so that part is easy!) for not only the residents but co-workers also.

Does your facility ever run out of important things like soap - yes, out of soap for at least a week now (the CNA's use the hand soap or bring their own to use on the residents). How about incontinence pads? OTC pain meds that are scheduled? We run out of things all the time that, IMO, we shouldn't run out of. It's very frustrating.

I think I'm writing too much! Thanks - I needed to vent!

dcnballmom, ASN, RN · Mar 10, 2008

you didnt write too much at all - i know exactly how you feel -