working in nursing homes

[nightmare]

With all the bad publicity that nursing homes have been getting lately do any of you feel reluctant to admit that you work in a home even though you know that your home has a good standard of care and is nothing like some of the homes that have been reported on?

[BHolliRNMS]

Nurses in long term care, LPN and RN, are expected to be competent in many areas that hospitals deem "specialty" areas and assign entire floors to them and devote time training nurses to be competent in this one area. Long Term Care nurses will work many different areas in one day all on their one unit: pysch, wounds, dialysis, hospice, infectious disease, cardio, pulmonary, and sometimes trauma. ETC

Nurses in long term care must report any and all changes in a resident's condition to the attending physician and the family. The physician is only required to assess their patients every 30 - 60 days. Therefore, in the long term care setting, the nurse calls the doctor and tells him what is wrong with the resident, what the resident and/or family needs are, if they are declining, improving, need a med change, need lab work, or need to see a doctor. In a hospital, the doc makes rounds once or twice a day and tells the nurses what to do.

It takes a very special, calm, self assured,assertive, organized, independant thinker, patient person to be a long term care nurse.

[terrirn143]

I had been a nurse almost 19 years when in August 2009, I took my first job in a nursing home as an MDS coordinator. Wow, was I surprised. There is never a dull moment and I have yet to say that any day has been boring or without anything to do. When I worked in a hospital there was often down time, but in a nursing home, the work is continuous, there is ALWAYS something to do and the residents become your own extended family in a way. Anyone who thinks nursing home work is easy is truly as one posted said, "clueless.":eek: