How do I find a "ggod" nursing home?

[dragon.chow]

Hi,

How do I find out the working conditions of the SNFs in my area? I live in San Bernardino County.

I'm days from finding out if I passed the nclex-pn (I called, results have been mailed). I'm sure I passed.

I plan to go into home health but I need some acute care experience if I ever want to get in at a hospital. But my back... for the lack of a better word...sucks...

I don't need surgery yet and I'd really like to give the science a good ten more years before it gets anywhere near me.

I can't exactly go into interviews with "So, how much heavy lifting will be required and can I get out of it?"

In case your wondering, I didn't realize how bad my back was till I was out of school and doing caregiver work waiting to take my boards.

I was working mornings, total care of an 80 lb. woman w/cerebral palsy and night time with a 13 yr old autistic boy who turned bed time into a cage match.

Before that I thought I had a little low back strain from, you know,..37 yrs.old.... stress from being a single mom with a disabled kid.... out of shape ...ect...curable with reg. exercise, ect.....

yeah...not so much

A herniated L5 and DDD T12 and L1.

I don't want to start somewhere and then not be able to do the job. I'm not lazy or useless but lifting and moving people on my own is absolutely out of the question right now. I've heard some places have strict policies against moving pt.s without assistance. How do find those places? All I ever hear about is where NOT to go work.

I have a job in homecare I can do as a new grad. but I'm worried I'll lose skills if that's all I do. Is there such a thing as a part time SNF job? I could also take my I.V. course and go stick people 8 hrs. a day at a plasma "donation" center but I think I'd rather rub my face in the used contents of a sharps container.

I'm going right back to school for my RN but it could take a few years. I was taking my prereq.s for a nursing program back in '93 but I got pregnant. Morning sickness and cat dissection REALLY don't mix so I decided to take some time off. My son has autism so things got put on hold. He's doing really well now (considering) or I wouldn't have even tried to go back to school. I'd like to stay in and get my Masters. I'm a better student now that I'm old and have no life to interfere with studying

Any ideas?

Cammy

[suzanne4, RN]

SNF jobs are going to require a very strong back, if you are limited in what you can physically do, then this is not the place for you.

Restrictions on what you can do before you even start will not sit well when you go for an employment interview. You have to be able to do everything that the CNAs do as far as lifting.