I should probably be pulling my hair out!

[celestial1]

Seriously are there any decent LTC/SNF jobs out there? When I started out as a CNA at my facility 3 years ago it was great and I loved it. About 6 months before graduating from nursing school the place really hit the bottom. I am ready to run screaming for the hills somewhere. The DON that took over about 8 months ago is never in the facility, she is always on vacation. She has been on at least 5 major vacations that I can think of, yet she is telling us staff nurses that she may not be able to grant our vacation requests. After 8 months she still has no clue what her job entails. Then our new MDS coordinator is no better the only difference is that she is in the facility more often but only because she is gunning for the DON position. She actually signs her name and then puts MDS Coordinator/Assistant DON. We DO NOT and NEVER have had an assistant DON. The place only has 60 beds.

For the last month I have been the only nurse scheduled to work from 6pm-10pm. Our schedules come out a month in advance. Tell me why I have to bring it to the DON's attention every Friday that there is no one but me after 6 and then she plays dumb while scrambling to find someone to come in and help me at the last minute. Last Friday I actually had to deal with residents and family members yelling at me because (keep in mind it was just me for 60 residents) I wasn't doing things like answering the phone quick enough or doing other minor things fast enough. On top of this I am expected to babysit the CNAs that are more worried about who is outside smoking, because they can't until that one comes in to watch their hall. This place has become like a high school with all the gossip and backstabbing and no one really coming to work to do a job and just go home. Our DON keeps hiring people for dayshift which is way over staffed while I am the only nurse for the evening shift. Has it never occured to her to say I am sorry but the only shift that I have available is evenings so if that is what you want then great we have a place for you? I really don't know how much more of this I can take. I live in fear of loosing my license that I worked hard for. I have no time in a shift to actually care for my residents. If I take the time to care then I am there hours past my shift ending.

That is another major gripe why is it that dayshift is usually adequately staffed and the day nurses can't bother to take off orders? I spend quite a bit of time picking up their slack and then worry that I am forgetting to do things that are needing to be done on my shift. $0.75/hr extra is not worth the H/A. The other big one is that they don't bother to do their treatments and then look at me and say treatments didn't get done today. What do they expect me to do theirs and mine plus everything else I have to do?

This place has made for an awful first time nurse experience, I am amazed daily at how bad of a place it has become in such a short time.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

RUN do NOT walk from this place. Again RUN RUN RUN. You will lose your license working here. I couldn't imagine being responsible for all 60 patients by myself. (I work in a hospital) There are better places out there.