Hi everyone, I post in here once in awhile, but I felt compelled to tonight.
As a little background I am a RN in a LTC/Rehab facility in MA. I have been working approx. 6 months and work 11-7.
My administration has been driving me nutty lately. Our census is way down, and for some reason we are not getting any new admissions to our building. 1st floor holds 32 residents (we're currently at 25+1) and 2nd floor has the same (census about 25). I feel that this has caused my administration to go beserk lately, and I feel like I'm possibly being taken advantage of.
It's not unheard of for them to leave me as the only nurse for the 50 some odd residents on the two floors. If their hours are "off" (like they will be tonight and Thurs.) I have to keep running up and downstairs to do meds (albeit mostly PRNs), order checks, and all the other 11-7 responsibilities. I've heard many of my nursing colleagues in the building say they'd refuse to do it, or demand double-time pay. I have been doing neither. I asked my ADON if I'd be compensated and she never got back to me. I'm doing double the work for the same pay.
The thing that absolutely got me this morning was my ADON. After feeling like death from 1-5am and finally pulling myself together for my 6am med pass, I got it done. I did not, however get any assessments or "editing" done for our changeover this weekend. My ADON made me feel like a complete failure, and kept giving me this "what are you thinking?" kind of look. She said 11-7 is the time to do paperwork, but didn't understand that I felt awful, could barely stay awake, had no color to my face for those 4 hours, and had to stay close to the bathroom just in-case.
I just feel like she was so heartless. I realize we're in a crunch, and that 7-3 deals with a lot of care plan meetings and physicians, etc. But come on, I had ONE off night.
This woman told me straight out on Saturday morning "people think I'm nice, well let me tell you, I can be a *****."
Good for you, lady.
Sorry for the long post. Does anyone else just want to strangle administration sometimes? I feel like I'm either doing very poorly in their eyes, or I'm their "angel."
I would run like &*^^ from that job. You are a great nurse for putting up with so much that you have, BUT some other facility will appreciate you more. You do NOT deserve to be treated like that, and unfortunatly a lot of nurses do get treated like that because they are givers and they want to make things better.
Ok, I really really know what you're going through- we too had a similar situation, empty beds... so I was asked to cover 2 units on different floors total SNF 90 patients- of them 20 with PG feeds that beeped all the time. When I came on and the g-tubes were blocked because the lazy evening nurse ( who covered only 30 patients) didn't flush em- just turned off the pump and let them sit...I was told "But your making time and a half doing nights!!! BTW I didn't let the evening nurse leave till the g-tubes were patent!!! )
We swallowed it all, worked liked chickens without heads- running from thing to thing and doing paperwork as well ( I stayed cause my kids were little and they gave me nights according to my needs at the time)
WHEN THE BEDS FILLED UP_ THEY CONTINUED THE SAME STAFFING RATIO- and didn't return the extra night nurse. I was burning. I DID leave ( they also burned me on something else) and am much happier now.
So take the advice of all of us- look for a better job!!
Specializes in OR, and more recently PACU and SDC.
Start applying for some of these specialty positions. Take some courses/classes, do some reading. Branching out will only make you more marketable. Many of the comments from LTC are the same or similar. Why subject yourself to a lifetime of misery?!
You got my empathy and my sympathy! It worries me that you are such a new nurse. This is an awful big load to carry when you are just starting out.
i was the house supervisor on 11-7 for a 3 story building, 60 pts on ea. floor. i was what they called a "working" supervisor meaning i worked the ICF floor along with supervising the house. first floor was all snf and had 2 nurses. 2nd/3rd floors had 1 nurse each, 2nd floor being half skilled.
if i had a nurse call in, i was not allowed to move a nurse to that floor. I had to work 2nd and 3rd floor...120 pts AND still supervise the house.
it was doable if i was extremely organized and stayed to a strict schedule my husband made for me. he is an engineer specializing in time studies so he did a time study on me to help me find a way to get it all done as i usually worked this 3-4 days/week.
no way could i have done it as a new nurse though! i had to really rely on my ability to quickly asses a situation...no time for second guessing myself.
i really think you'd be doing yourself a favor finding a job where you can just learn to be a nurse sotospeak and learn to assess situations. it sounds like you are starting out great too!
welcome to the nursing family, where every day is an adventure!
Start applying for some of these specialty positions. Take some courses/classes, do some reading. Branching out will only make you more marketable. Many of the comments from LTC are the same or similar. Why subject yourself to a lifetime of misery?!
LTC is my love. but lately i've been asking myself that very question.
why do i do this to myself when i could work in a less stressful atmosphere?
it was great when i was young and just starting out. but now im old and like my life to be calm.
Specializes in CHF, Med/Surg, Telemetry, Cardiac Care.
Thanks everyone for your input. I actually am looking for other work, I don't want to stay in LTC forever. It was a good ease into nursing, but it wasn't my first choice. I simply couldn't find any positions for what I wanted at the time (L&D), and now that I'm off that kick (had done a Senior internship in it), I want MedSurg to broaden my skill set and organization skills. We'll see if I can find anything, most are MedSurg/Onco units, which I don't think I'd be comfortable with right off the bat.
rhondaa83
173 Posts
I would run like &*^^ from that job. You are a great nurse for putting up with so much that you have, BUT some other facility will appreciate you more. You do NOT deserve to be treated like that, and unfortunatly a lot of nurses do get treated like that because they are givers and they want to make things better.