Has anyone ever been asked to lead activities at work?

klone, MSN, RN · Jul 24, 2023

Are the nurses playing balls and cards with each other, or with residents?

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Jul 24, 2023

Normally they would have an "activities director" who would do those things in ALF.

allnurses Guide · Jul 24, 2023

In the Psych facility I lead one group a day!

SilverBells, BSN · Jul 24, 2023

klone said:

Are the nurses playing balls and cards with each other, or with residents?

With residents.

kp2016 · Jul 24, 2023

Interesting. So basically you have a spare 2 hours every single day?

My only question would be which task/s are they permanently taking off your plate to free up this time and who will be now doing them so you can hand over to them.

vintagegal, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Jul 24, 2023

I was wondering what happened to you! Welcome back miss bells ?

klone, MSN, RN · Jul 25, 2023

Glycerine82, LPN · Jul 25, 2023

Not sure about the whole activity thing because I find that the activity department should be taking care of that.

All combined I probably spend two hours a day, if that, in my office.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jul 25, 2023

SilverBells said:

The other day, I got an email from our DHS that the nurse managers are now going to be expected to spend at least 2 hours a day working on the units instead of in our offices.

One of the things we are supposed to be doing is "encouraging staff-led activities" such as card games and ball toss. Has anyone else ever heard of this? Since when do nurses have time to play games or do activities at work?

Merriam Websters LEAD definitions:

to guide on a way especially by going in advance
to direct on a course or in a direction
to direct the operations, activity, or performance of

As you are an RN in an assisted living facility, you are not knee deep in patient care throughout a shift. Your focus is on overall well-being of consumer residents living in your facility. In your prior posts, stated that state requires RN to be responsible for medication ordering -2hrs/day spent on activity along with reviewing admission assessments that LPN;s doing.

As part of "well being" you need to be out and about in your facility to observe residents: are they attending mealtimes, getting adequate nutrition/hydration especially during heatwaves; are they socially isolating in their rooms or engaging in activities; appearance clean and neat -are they bathing, getting hair cut/done; PCA's respectful to them and staff, helping to stimulate/engage in activities??? Being a positive cheerleader helps motivate all in your day to day facility travels --along with coaching those appearing to slack off/avoid work.

All this can be done by being present during mealtimes, working with activities director to ensure that PCA's are conducting unit based activities -- are residents not attending/engaging as bored? Your responsibility is to LEAD staff, although you personally may get more out of doing a weekly activity with residents bringing joy and laughter into the day.

Broaden your horizons to see the big picture of healthcare in ALF or seek different position to best utilize your paperwork skills you prefer like utilization review, SNF resident assessment coordinator or Medical records coder/reviewer.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Jul 27, 2023

I suggest you reach out to VivaLasViejas ASN, RN as she used to work in Assisted Living and would have a lot of good advice for you. Also you could read her old posts here on Allnurses.

The little I know about ALF/LTC is that they like to have only one RN in the building to do everything the LPN's can't and otherwise go with LPN's to save money. But she worked in that industry for years so she would have lots of sage advice. I think it would be worth it to reach out to her.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jul 28, 2023

Hi Silver Bells, I did indeed work in Assisted Living for about 6 years back in the early 2000s up to 2013. I was the only licensed nurse for three facilities. I did the delegations, made the schedules, served as a staff development coordinator, oversaw staff and residents interacting with each other, wrote policies and procedures, led care conferences, performed resident assessments in the facilities and prior to admission...and any other duties as assigned to me by the administrator/executive director. (One even tried to send me out on sales calls, but I rebelled.)

What I didn't do, for the most part, was actual resident care, and for that I was sorry. I simply didn't have enough time for it, as you can see by my job description. Now I'm in a nursing home myself and from the other side of the washcloth, I'm here to tell you that no care facility should EVER be so understaffed that the nurse can't get out of the office long enough to mingle with the residents, learn who they were and who they are, and see them as *people,* not just numbers and insurance information.

You have posted about a long and stormy association with your facility, and like the vast majority of allnurses members, I believe you should have quit there many months ago. You need to figure out who you want to be as both a nurse, and a good-hearted human being who needs to grow up a little more. Do it now, the depression, anxiety and feelings of inadequacy won't go away on their own. I wish you the very best. There's more to life than work, and there's more to work than living with a toxic environment. Good luck!?