I'm a new grad charge nurse in a LTC facility. I've been there for almost 2 months and I'm at the point where I'm literally scared to go to work. At first I floated, and that was ok, but I just became a regular on a dementia/psych floor. The paperwork and charting is sooo heavy, and I'm the only nurse on a 40-bed unit. I know I have to "manage my time" more effectively, but there's not enough time in one 8 hr shift to do everything that is required of me.. and i don't take lunch.
I have to pass meds (and the time schedules of the meds are so crazy), start tube feedings, supervise CNAs, chart, pick up orders, check orders, treatments, and various other paper work that come in books.. and the worst of all is getting an admission.. i always fear that i'll get an admission .. and on top of all that, i JUST learned that i'm required to re-do the whole treatment book for the new month.. and my god, the daily interruptions i get.. supervisors coming every 5 mins to check the medex while i'm giving meds, CNAs calling me for this and that, residents not wanting to take their meds (i have to spend so much time just to encourage them to do so).
I don't want to quit because I want to be able to handle everything, and I've floated to every floor to know that other floors are easier to handle; still hard, but a little easier. I just don't believe one nurse can do it all safely.
Literally I am done with LTC...for over 30 years things have only gotten worse...I live in NOVA...Nothern Virginia....and transplanted from my Homestate of NJ, been here 6 years...gave the nursing home time to work their problems out...including going through 4 DONs and losing numerous nurse and CNAS since I have been there....its disorganized and very stressful..........its been a nightmare here...the worse Nursing home I ever worked in in my entire life.....they expect too much and don't pay, and staffing is hurting badly.
Yes. i can relate to what alot of you have posted. I worked LTC for yearssss before getting my RN..and for a couple of months of having my RN as well. I havent worked LTC since 2015. And recently decided to pick up weekends shifts at one. Needless to say, I didnt last, of course by choice. I worked 3 weekends and politely put in my 2 week notice. And the reason i resigned was for all the reasons listed here on this thread. LTC has NOT changed!
Same poop, different CNA/LPN/RN cleaning it....because turnover is so freaking high!
My daughter has urged me to go back to LTC for a steady paycheck, because I spend too much time unemployed working at hh agencies. I tell her every time the subject comes up, better to be unemployed than to go through that again.
The WORST job I've had was in a nursing home. The foreign nurses got all their work done and were able to lounge around eating and chatting. I was on the floor the entire shift trying to keep up with passing meds at the correct time. I finally just quit. To this day, I haven't been able to figure out how all of their 6 pm meds were passed by 6:30 pm.
The WORST job I've had was in a nursing home. The foreign nurses got all their work done and were able to lounge around eating and chatting. I was on the floor the entire shift trying to keep up with passing meds at the correct time. I finally just quit. To this day, I haven't been able to figure out how all of their 6 pm meds were passed by 6:30 pm.
Interesting that looking through the local indeed ad's for Southwest Florida and having never seen so many listings for DON, ADON and nurses in LTC. I predict going forward that it will be very difficult if not almost impossible to find nurses to take on the responsibility and fill these positions. The workload for everyone involved has just become too much.
Interesting that looking through the local indeed ad's for Southwest Florida and having never seen so many listings for DON, ADON and nurses in LTC. I predict going forward that it will be very difficult if not almost impossible to find nurses to take on the responsibility and fill these positions. The workload for everyone involved has just become too much.
It really has become way too much. And its exascerbated by how little alot of LTC facilities want to pay as well. On top of staffing at bare mininum ratios. I started my career in long term care, and to see it turn the way it has is really sad. Its just too much. I will always always give high respect to those who continue to work in this specialty, but I just cannot right now.
To this day, I haven't been able to figure out how all of their 6 pm meds were passed by 6:30 pm.
At some point in time I figured out by observation how they got all their meds passed on time. Combining all the med passes into one and ‘ghost’ administration were the mainstays of their technique. ‘Ghosting’ also got the treatments done so well that they did not find it necessary to even sign off on the TAR at all. Dated dressings stayed on for days and even longer than a week, without being changed. Supervisors, domestic variety included, could be counted upon to support this superior nursing care. The laziest coworker, who spent night shift sleeping away, skillfully operated this way and bragged about “out-xxxxxxxxxxx the xxxxxxxxx”. The supervisors just loved her.
The current system sure pushes nurses to take short cuts and not provide certain care/treatments. I could not lie like that so I got out of LTC.
Same here. Although I havent dealt with nurses skipping a whole med pass....hmmm...or maybe i just wadnt paying attention. Either way, I always hope for a change in this sector of healthcare, if not for the staff, mostly for the patients. The baby boomers are coming close to their retirement too. So their wil be this surge where good staff ad LTC facilities will be vital for alot of people in this generation.
I have witnessed it and while I was on orientation the LVN said "it was the only way to get all the work done." She combined multiple med passes at one time and wouldn't change dressings or do half of the treatments. Only the alert residents got their treatments. The others had old dressings that the nurses purposely would not date and they would lie if need be saying it was changed. Now the nurses made it clear during state inspections we had to "do the order exactly as it's written."
I started working the evening shift and started seeing all the short cuts and it sickened me. I never would do these things so I ran all evening. It is frightening to think of all the short cuts that will take place as the baby boomers start being admitted to nursing homes very shortly. LTC patients deserve so much better than the care they get now. Short staffing, insane ratios that legislators deemed adequate so many years ago ( the comorbidities nowadays are far different and more complex), the greedy business owners and corporations concerned only about saving money and the bottom line.
No way could I recommend a family member get placed in LTC in it's current form.
I don't know what the other nurses are doing or not doing.
I do know that my 12-hour shifts at previous facility regularly turned into 15 or 16 ... and 8-hour shifts at current facility are regularly turning into 10 or 11. And at both places ~ that is me running all day ... sometimes leaving without doing any Medicare charting at all.
It is exhausting work, physically and mentally, and almost every day I hit a point of "what the hell am I doing?"
BUT. I get so much positive feedback from my residents ... they appreciate what are to me the most *basic* things. Answering their questions instead of blowing them off. Helping them figure out how to work their TV remote. Lol. A lot of it is not hard ... it just takes time and energy. It takes a certain level of giving a *** that sadly, I think many in LTC just don't have. They're burnt out. No doubt about it.
I have to be very careful how many days I work in a row. Honestly ~ two is my personal max right now, with everything else I have going on in my personal life.
.. and on top of all that, i JUST learned that i'm required to re-do the whole treatment book for the new month.. and my god, the daily interruptions i get.. supervisors coming every 5 mins to check the medex while i'm giving meds, CNAs calling me for this and that, residents not wanting to take their meds (i have to spend so much time just to encourage them to do so). 
lumbarpain56
21 Posts
Literally I am done with LTC...for over 30 years things have only gotten worse...I live in NOVA...Nothern Virginia....and transplanted from my Homestate of NJ, been here 6 years...gave the nursing home time to work their problems out...including going through 4 DONs and losing numerous nurse and CNAS since I have been there....its disorganized and very stressful..........its been a nightmare here...the worse Nursing home I ever worked in in my entire life.....they expect too much and don't pay, and staffing is hurting badly.