Assuming you had not prior experience with LTC/nursing home like type of nursing. I mean med cart, 25+ pts...
I just started my 1st job at LTC... Right now, it takes me about 5-10 minutes per person to find, verify each med... add forgotten ones, double-check ones that I suddenly felt an urge to verify etc... You can do the math... 4 hours to complete a pass, I barely fit it. I haven't tried yet (just my 2nd day of orientation). The nurses there (including manager) told me it takes about 3 weeks to get into the rhythm/become proficient so I shouldn't stress myself too much (which I don't). The cart is well organized, the pts have pics in the chart and everything is in order except the meds don't have both generic and brand name (they usually have only one of them written there, or one name in the chart and another (substitute) in the cart), so I often get confused as to what the drug really is, and have to ask my preceptor.
I'm curious how long did it take you to become fast and efficient at giving meds, and how many pts did you have?
Well I was younger in those days and of course needed my job,and actually I am still there..but that was the norm in LTC and by me speaking up finally...we got additional nurses on the other units..now I will say not every resident was scheduled for meds thank goodness and to the other poster I didn't say leave a resident bleeding and continue on with meds I did say if they are ok pick them up and then get back to your meds
Today I did the complete morning pass. 5.5 hours. But I know I'll get better. My wing is the hardest one out there, and it's day shift. I've only been orienting on day shifts, I'll be working evenings. Yesterday I studied the cheat sheet (my preceptor wrote me), so even though I still didn't remember faces very well it helped a lot today with connecting name to faces and to certain facts about a lot of residents. Starting tomorrow I'll have some more orienting but on evenings only now.
.. lets say a resident has fallen on the floor call the supervisor,assess resident have the CNA's pick them up if there is no injury return to your med pass as quickly as possible,make your calls and do paperwork later. The good thing about LTC is you pretty much know your residents and will pick up quickly how they take meds,what they want etc..you should do fine!
Where I work, there is no supervisor on my shift (11 to 7), so if someone falls, I have to take care of everything. The med pass stops. Then, I have to assess, and if the resident has to go out to the hospital, I have to make calls, fill out forms, and do an incident report. Even if there is no injury to the resident, I still have to call the family, the MD, and the on-call nurse, plus fill out an incident report. All of this takes up quite a bit of time, so all it takes is one fall for me to fall behind on the med pass.
NurseNinaFla
96 Posts
Well I was younger in those days and of course needed my job,and actually I am still there..but that was the norm in LTC and by me speaking up finally...we got additional nurses on the other units..now I will say not every resident was scheduled for meds thank goodness and to the other poster I didn't say leave a resident bleeding and continue on with meds I did say if they are ok pick them up and then get back to your meds