I love LTC. Please leave this in General Please Moderators so my felllow nurses can read it, and it won't be lost in the shuffle, OK. PLEASE.
I LOVE LTC! Yes! I admit it. I love older adults who having lived all their lives with their family and their homes decide after heartbreaking moments that it is a better choice to come live with me, a nurse who decided that she would dedicate her career to these older adults. A Nurse who would share their holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, good moments and bad with them. A Nurse who would hold their hand at moments of laughter, tears, heartbreak, and even Death. A Nurse who would give them a helping hand to get ready for the day, to help them walk, to help them talk, to help them live their last remaining days with dignity and friendship, that's why I work in LTC.
I'm sorry it a late night and I am not that articulate tonight, but I had to write these ramblings after reading another thread, that LTC hooks elderly adults to feeding tubes to get more $$. I'm sorry as the Nurse don't have that right to make that decision for them. I'm too busy holding their hands.
Don't Flame me please, but if any nurse wants to know how I do my job in LTC. Can PM me at this address. I be willing to share.
...I also wish you could get the pay you deserve. I wish more nurses in the field I am in or in all fields felt at least a little bit of the way you feel about your field.
I see too many nurses that complain day in and day out about their jobs and the hardships of that job. They complain so much that I wish they would have chosen a different field and having found themselves in a profession they are not happy in would grow the bells to get out and find a different field.
I used to work ER...
I quit that madness. I was good at it, but not for me anymore...
I make more (not ever the most important, but worth mentioning here, in this context) than 95% of ANY of my nursing friends...
The NP that gives me orders (on the weekends) makes 5% more than me, she's going back to staff nursing (that's another thread!)
I NEVER thought I would end up here (I used to think ALL LTC nurses were worthless...sorry)
Fellow nurses...Don't be afraid to try something new...I start IVs (less than before) hang IV meds (no drips), and use my assessment skills (as much as ER) daily, and have no doc in the facility...Me and my LPNs are it...We ultimately decide who goes to the ER, and who stays...Sometimes a crapshoot! We do many of our own orders (within our scope) and ALWAYS get an doc to approve (know your docs, and what you can do - no narcs w/o an order first)...
It's not for the weak, be proud, and be professional (Always send adequate paperwork to the ER, ALWAYS call report BEFORE the patient gets there) (see my previouspoint about all LTC nurses are worthless :zzzzz)
Listen to your aides (the good ones)
And (within reason and in the patient's best interest), do what the family wants, PERIOD! If they want dad to be sent to the ER, DO IT. You will lose this power struggle!!!!!!
hogan4736, BSN, RN
739 Posts
I used to work ER...
I quit that madness. I was good at it, but not for me anymore...
I make more (not ever the most important, but worth mentioning here, in this context) than 95% of ANY of my nursing friends...
The NP that gives me orders (on the weekends) makes 5% more than me, she's going back to staff nursing (that's another thread!)
I NEVER thought I would end up here (I used to think ALL LTC nurses were worthless...sorry)
Fellow nurses...Don't be afraid to try something new...I start IVs (less than before) hang IV meds (no drips), and use my assessment skills (as much as ER) daily, and have no doc in the facility...Me and my LPNs are it...We ultimately decide who goes to the ER, and who stays...Sometimes a crapshoot! We do many of our own orders (within our scope) and ALWAYS get an doc to approve (know your docs, and what you can do - no narcs w/o an order first)...
It's not for the weak, be proud, and be professional (Always send adequate paperwork to the ER, ALWAYS call report BEFORE the patient gets there) (see my previouspoint about all LTC nurses are worthless :zzzzz)
Listen to your aides (the good ones)
And (within reason and in the patient's best interest), do what the family wants, PERIOD! If they want dad to be sent to the ER, DO IT. You will lose this power struggle!!!!!!
And just trust your gut...
sean