LPN LTC Workloads and too little time

Silverhawk · Feb 14, 2005

Been there, done that....my answer is to get out while you still gave your sanity. May I ask how the staffing is? I was being left on 11-7 shift in LTC with 88 residents to care for...which is too many, therefore I quit because they kept putting me in that position no matter how I begged them not to. Even after I contacted the OLTC, they still told me they only had to have 1 lpn on nights with even up to 120 residents. BAH!!!! So I wrote my resignation and walked, and I couldn't be happier....:balloons:

What do you do now? :uhoh3:

pattyzaccy · Feb 17, 2005

At my job same for 23 years LTC the work lately is unbelievale reponsible for 30 patients tube feeding, some times iv admissions, peritonial dialysis, enemas, 2 pages 24 hr reports new i+o for all patients wound care, trachs, nebulizers blood sugars everything is so repetitive!!! If you actually did evrything exactly so according to state impossibe!!!Every time state comes the plan of correction adds more paper work, there"s no time anymore to spend with the elderly and I do enjoy them. If one thing happens such as a spiked temp ectyour really screwed, Can you really do peritonial dialysis properly @4:pm when you have to do about 6 blood sugars and the 4 o'clock med. pass? I'm ready to retire!!!

Blackcat99 · Feb 17, 2005

LTC is a no-win situation. I just gave my 2 week notice as I was working full time night shift. It was the longest 2 weeks of my life. I got tired of coming home every single day feeling completely worn out physically and emotionally. And of course, they kept adding "things for the night shift to do." I am now going to work Hospice part time and just work at the LTC a couple times a month as a "prn" nurse. I'm feeling much better already. :) Yes run for your life and escape LTC! How dare they refuse to pay you what you are due!!! :angryfire

dbsn00 · Feb 18, 2005

I have been an LPN working in LTC for almost a year now. I have worked in sales construction, and manufacturing. Nursing has been the toughest job of them all, and I have done some very labor intensive work before. My nursing schedule with Tx's, med passes, assesments, IV push meds, G-tube feedings, colostomy bags etc. (You know the drill) doesn't allow for much patient interaction time. I feel like I'm running on a hamster cage wheel everyday. And everyday requires 100% or more, no less! I have always had on my other jobs two 10 minute breaks, and at least a half hour lunch. What gives here? When did nurses give up the right to be treated fairly? Justly? Honestly? I'm curious about the workloads others are faced with. My employer flat out refuses to pay time and a half for overtime, and that is a state law. What is going on? No one ever told me this in nursing school.

Welcome to LTC!!! Forget breaks (we don't even get them at my facility)but do make sure that you take your allotted time for lunch as you are a person not a robot and LEAVE the floor for your break if you can unless you want to be interrupted every 2 minutes (I've had residents families banging on the bathroom door or chasing me down in the cafeteria because Aunt Matilda needs an extra pillow or doesn't like strawberry Ensure). At my facility the day shift gets stuck with the bulk of the work because that is when the MD's are there, dietary, PT/OT, etc. and I could easily rack up 2-3 hours over my regular shift per day :uhoh21: (this is the same for all nurses where I work, if you can be finished by the shift change then something did not get done or wasn't done correctly!). There was so much overtime going on that the DON is now making us punch out by 3:30PM the latest with the remaining items endorsed to the next shift. The 3-11 was not happy but the DON invited them to do a few 7-3 shifts so they could see the difference. If I had to complete everything that is thrown my way during a regular day at work I would never leave!

Mandylpn · Feb 19, 2005

All of these posts are scaring me, what did I get myself into? I am a new grad, just hired at a LTC facility. when I interviewed the DON told me there were 3 nurses on my shift, pm's, and there are 40 residents. so here I was thinking "3 nurses and 40 residents" divide 40 by 3. Well, it turns out on my first day I found out that there is not always a third nurse on. The nurse I was orientating with does a lot that the CNA's could (should) in my opinion be doing. If I have 20 under my care, and they only have 10 under theirs, that is a big difference. I only saw one pt with a tube feeding, but lots of BG's, treatments, and they give meds throughout the whole shift. She is always at the cart. Other nursing homes I have been to for clinicals have two med passes on the pm shift, then they are done. Plus they want the nurse to serve the residents their beverages in the dining area and clean the tables afterwards! (no I am not kidding). :eek: I asked why dietary did not do this and I did not get much of an explaination, and she said the CNA's were too "busy" to do this! :uhoh21: any feedback would be appreciated. thanx.

Blackcat99 · Feb 19, 2005

Yes I've worked in places where the nurse is also the dining room supervisor. I had to pass out trays,give coffee and help feed residents. They told me that the state requires a licensed nurse to supervise the dining room in case someone has an emergency and starts choking to death. I was told to stay in the dining room until all the residents went to their rooms. Of course, the residents who ate in their rooms and needed their pain meds had to wait way over an hour plus for their pain meds because I couldn't leave the dining room. :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

LowPaidNurse0000 · Feb 25, 2005

Yes, I agree it's crazy in LTC i work with alzheimers too, :uhoh3: and we have to help feed, and take them to the bathroom and we do it all...! Yes and try to give them their meds on time as well! I work baylor shifts on the weekends. So I work 16 hours a day Saturday and Sunday, but then i get mon-fri off to recoop. So thats not to bad, right now, but I don't care where you go it's all the same, to bad.... :crying2:

pediatriclpn · Mar 26, 2005

The best DON I ever had said "How do you expect to care for others when your aren't caring for yourself". Every nurse was expected to take her 1/2 hour break for lunch, dinner, etc. And at least one 15 minute break off the floor also. And this was for an eight hour shift. If it didn't get accomplished on your shift, and was something you could leave for the next to pick up, you were expected to leave it for the next shift to do. This was also the only facility that I ever worked at that had and ADON on every shift, and when we were short, or there was some outbreak of illness, the DON, and the ADON were on the floors passing meds, doing treatments, toileting, bathing, changing beds, etc.

And a quick annonymous phone call to your states Labor Board will make them pay you overtime. And any back overtime pay that has added up. Plus a nice big fine for not paying it.

Good luck, and hang in there. If you can find another job, and that is what you really want, go for it. But there is a niche for all of us! :nurse:

Mandylpn · Mar 26, 2005

Just to add a bit to my previous post, and I am not picking on the CNA's, but they "always" get their two 15-minute breaks and a half hour dinner. I am lucky to get 20 minutes to eat during the whole shift, and I do not get two 15-minute breaks. Also, they do leave on time. :banghead:

sbkoftx44 · Mar 30, 2005

If you look for a place to transfer to , there are places that are much better than where you are. Most nurses too scared to chnage. Keep on and you will find it.

God Bless