Assisted Living vs. Nursing Home

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

to change your user name "PM" any moderator. They have to help you do that.

I have done both LTC and AL. My personal experience is LTC is WAY more stressful, but yet way more clinical. For example as the Health Care Coordinator of an AL (same as a DON), I was in a rotation right along with all staff - my job to run BINGO once monthly, Laundry couple times/week (tablecloths and such), get coffee made for resident breakfast and once even cooked the whole meal when the real cook called in sick. But also passed all the meds, called dr's, etc - just didn't have the acutely ill residents for the most part. I loved assisted living when I started - still love the concept, but this particular AL had coorporate policies that I just couldn't agree with (as our people were aging and becoming more acutely ill - they insisted we should continue to care for all them.. but of course no extra staffing and no proper equipment to deal w/ some of the stuff).

supermo · Aug 13, 2006

I loved assisted living when I started - still love the concept, but this particular AL had coorporate policies that I just couldn't agree with (as our people were aging and becoming more acutely ill - they insisted we should continue to care for all them.. but of course no extra staffing and no proper equipment to deal w/ some of the stuff).

"It's tough all over Ponyboy."

(I love The Outsiders, that's a great line:)

I quit a fantastic job because of this crap.

FOR PROFIT = $$$$$$$$$$ over man :angryfire

To me, AL does not include residents that have to fed, positioned, or suctioned. Call me crazy.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Aug 13, 2006

ALF nursing as as different from traditional nursing-home nursing as night is from day. I'm the RN health services director (DON, in LTC terms) and I do very little resident care, although I have a few 'projects' at any given time (I love wound care!! ) and once in a great while will do a NOC shift as med aide. I'm also on-call 24/7, but my staff is well-trained and rarely needs to call me, and 99% of the times they do, I can handle it from home.

I'm fortunate in that I have the autonomy to shape my job to my own needs and preferences, and I run my department as I see fit. At present I do the scheduling, interviewing, and staff delelgation/supervision pieces, as well as resident assessment and health services coordination, plus even some marketing. I'm also acting administrator whenever my boss is out of the building........that part I'm not too keen on, as I don't understand a lot about the business end of things (nor do I want to).

There is a fair amount of record-keeping involved, but it isn't a fraction of the paperwork you do in LTC---no MDS/RAPs, no Medicare charting, no documenting every little ointment and cream in five places. The pay isn't as good as in LTC, at least not in my neck of the woods, but my stress level is so low that I've been able to go off my 2 most expensive blood-pressure meds, so in my case anyway, I think it all evens out.