Looking for help with a weird idea

[JBarger LPN]

I havve been working for this particular nursing home for over six months. Their are two floors the upstairs is our medicare and skilled floor,our downstairs is the general floor. This particular home has most of the same problems that other homes has with staffing shortage and call offs but the general moral of the place is very poor. I have come up with an idea to help moral and possibly make it a better place to work. I am bringing to our administator an idea for me to take over as their Ward Clerk. I am trying to bring to the table ideas to sell this over. I already will be taking over changeover and physician orders, all skin assessments, Monitering the bowel regimen. I have a good argument to pass those over with the administrator but I need more to help and I am begging for the help on this if any facility has a ward clerk or if anybody has a good suggestion to bring over I would greatly appreciate the advice.

[RNAC]

We have ward clerk on both floor (one is referred to as the sargent)they make sure the labs orders are complete, schedule the wts to correspond with the MDS and PPS schedules, amoungst a lot of other tasks. The aren't nurses. We will be training them some to take off orders. I do know of a facility that has an LPN as their unit clerk and she is invaluable. Hope your administrater is able to see thing through another paridium. go for it.

[NurseNelly]

Sounds great. I hope you get what you want. We had no ward clerks in our nursing home. We would run down the hall when we would hear the phone ring, we not only did the skin assessments, we did the wound care, weights. Basically we did it all and hoped and prayed that some nursing assistants would show up for work. The media needs to focus on shortage of nursing assistants along with shortage of nursing.

[snazzle]

I am the LPN/CHARGE NURSE of the rehab/acute care 54 bed unit at a LTC facility. You are describing what use to be my job, adm/dschg, taking new physician orders,careplanning all new orders,notifying family of all new orders, documenting new orders & family notification, skin assessments, monthly summaries, medicare assessments and documentation on half of the medicare patients the med nurses has to chart on the others,and the medicaid conversion forms for the 3 units. Do you believe we have an RN Unit Supervisor? I call this an acute care unit because of the type of patients we receive, trachs,c-paps,picc lines, tube feedings,we have actually had a pt requiring peritoneal dialysis. I Thank GOD that the med nurses started complaining about it being to much trying to pass meds to all those people. I still have the title, but I now have a a caseload of 18 patients, and still do the medicaid conversion forms for the unit I work on. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

[snazzle]

clarification: I performed all those duties on 1 unit but did all of the medicaid conversion formsfor the 3 units.

[nursejanedough]

Hi Snazzle, I am exhausted reading all that you did. We had no ward clerk but us floor nurses on LTC did a lot. Our MDS/PPS nurse did care plans, etc. (I used to be MDS/PPS nurse.) I looked up your profile which didn't say where you are from but I bet you are in the South. The South is way behind.

[Catsrule16, RN]

Only problem I see is with staffing problems like they are, you getting pulled to work the floor when someone doesn't show up. There goes all the good intentions you had to begin with.

Sounds like a wonderful idea. Good Luck!