How to deal with under staffing in long term care

[nelly092]

I have been working part time in Long term care for a month. The training is little to none. Just 3 days of very light training before I was thrown out onto the floor. There were many duties expected of me that I was never trained to do such as changing Foley catheters, flushing PICC lines, maintaining IVs. The 7 -3p shift was too chaotic so I decided to work the overnight shift. I had only 2 hrs to check wander guards on 15 residents, take vitals on about 8 residents, give morning meds to 20-25 residents, g tube care on 6 residents, change catheter on 1 resident.  I only had 2 hrs  to do all of this because I couldn't wake the residents up prior to 5 am. Then I get off at 7am. Every single shift feels like a nightmare to me. My hands fly crazy fast. I never have enough time to get things done. I have missed things and made mistakes because I was just so rushed.  If I take a 30 min lunch break, then it might mean I won't finish all my work by the time my shift ends.  On my 3-11p shift, I would be on my feet the entire shift, passing out meds non stop. It takes me days just to recover from working 1 shift. I can't imagine working at LTC  full time. 

My question is.. how do nurses survive long term care? how do nurses get everything done on time before their shift ends? I feel like I am going nuts every shift. 

[holley spanser]

I never worked in nursing homes, but I used to work as behavioral health nurse with ratio of 1 nurse to  12 behavioral health patient. I also had 1 tech helping out.  I was getting bagels for nursing assistant and security guards every Friday. I quit after I get attacked by patient and it was not one available to help me out.

[Marshall1]

Sounds like you situation is more about where you are working than the work itself. If the facility you are working at isn't staffing correctly that can be an issue with the state. They can bring in agency nurses for support but the bottom line is, if this is a chronic issue your best and safests bet is to find another facility as its your licenses on the line. Not all Long term cares are run like what you are describing.