Is working as LPN in Nursing home easy?

[PoppyLizz]

I have a friend who told me that she wants to go to school to work as LPN.I told her if she would be interested in becoming a CNA for little bit to see if Nursing would be a field she wants to pursue .She said NO,she doesn't want to do all the lifting and grunt work and that LPN's in Nursing home just pass medications in LTC.Well I haven't been an /nurse so I can tell first hand if its easy work.I just want to hear from LPN's who work in Nursing homes how the work is like.I've considered going for It as well

[purplegal]

I'm a RN, not an LPN, that works in a Skilled Nursing Facility/Rehab Center, but I can say that being an LPN in one of these facilities is not the job for someone looking for easy work. I know this, because the LPNs at my facility do all of the same tasks as I do. Medication passing is by far not the only task, and even that alone is challenging, especially if you have 20-40 people to pass meds to. Many of them will have numerous medications, need to be crushed, given through a G-tube, injections, IV medications, etc. On top of that you will have many treatments, including numerous dressing changes for wounds. Many have CPAPs so their O2 sats need to be constantly monitored. Also, many of our patients have catheters, or need to be bladder scanned and I/O cathed. You will need to get urine and stool specimens. Falls are frequent and tend to happen during the busiest times. Many patients are more acute than you think, and sending a patient to the hospital is not uncommon. The day-to-day assessments alone are very lengthy but if you have a fall, send someone to the ER, etc, the charting just gets enormously larger. I've never admitted a patient, as I work evening/night shift, but those admissions are very lengthy. Plus, at night, these people do not sleep. They need pain meds or a frequent request is to use the bathroom! And, when you only have one aide, guess who else gets to help these people to use the restroom? If your friend wants to get out of the physical work of nursing, working in a nursing home, skilled nursing facility, rehab center, is not the place to go.

[walkingon, CNA, LPN]

I worked as an LPN/LVN in the nursing home industry for approximately four years. The work can be physically, emotionally, and socially difficult at times.

Many of the nursing home residents will be dead-weight and require extensive assistance (read: physically difficult work).

Some nursing home residents are at the end of their lives. This affects some nurses (read: emotionally difficult work).

Some residents, doctors, coworkers, managers, and family members are difficult to deal with (read: socially difficult work).

Probably the most concise and accurate description of LTC nursing I've ever read.