LTC Nurses Bottom of the Barrel

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when i started looking for jobs as a new grad i really didn't think it mattered what specialty i started with because experience is experience i told myself. and i had listened to stories about how nurses jumped from specialty to specialty enjoying the variety and flexibility of our profession. however i began my career in ltc and am discovering what an negative impact that is making on my career goals. it appears my experience is not valued at all and that i'm view as the "bottom of the barrel". i even had a manager say to me; "she just a nursing home nurse" as though she had no value at all.

doesn't the healthcare community have any idea what it takes to be a "nursing home nurse"?? i have never worked so hard in my life! my time management is stellar!!! it has to be!! i do more in the first couple hours on my shift than most acute care nurses do all day. i've become very efficient at doing assessments because i don't have the luxury of having doctors and specialist at my immediate disposal. i can educate just about anyone about just about anything. my interpersonal skills are top notch and i can communicate with any discipline with confidence and authority. i don't have phlebotomists drawing my labs or iv nurses starting my iv's...i do it. i can probably pass the wound certification because i've dressed every kind of wound with every kind of dressing known to man. how is that not valued!?! :confused:

seems i've joined the most underappreciated undervalued nursing specialty possible. and yet i'm proud of the nurse i've become because of that choice. :nurse:

Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.

Yes, LTC gets a bad rap, both out in the public, and even more surprisingly, on these boards. I have seen people state that only RN's that couldn't hack it in a hospital work LTC. Then again, I had an instructor in college that stated OR nurses were a waste, you could train a monkey to do what an OR nurse does. So, every specialty has their fair share of slamming.

We don't have lab, x ray, CT/MRI and doctors available 24/7. We are the doctors eyes and ears, so our assessment skills better be damn good. Pediatrics is a specialty because the young ones organs and systems aren't fully mature, so they present illness/injury differently. Geriatrics is a specialty because the elderly's organs and systems are post-mature, so they too present illness and injury differently. As in any specialty, there are nurses that work hard to fully understand the population they work with and are always learning, and then you have some that just skate by with minimal effort.

People who have that kind of mentality about LTC nurses aren't worth my time...because their overinflated sense of importance gets in the way. Ignore them, and move on.

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Specializes in ED, acute care, home health, hospice.

That is truly unfortunate. I am still a new grad, have been working in LTC about 2 months now. I have had to adapt my time management from nursing school (most of my clinicals were acute care, 4 patients) to LTC/SNF and let me tell you it is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I pass meds, do dressing changes and tx and most days I am lucky to get a lunch, let alone a break. My assessment skills have progressed so much...residents can go bad in LTC quickly and I am learning to trust my instincts when it comes to something even slightly abnormal. I feel like I could do med surg/critical care w/ my eyes closed...5 patients (down from the 30 I currently care for) would be a dream come true!

God bless us LTC nurses. Some days I am ready to throw in the towel, but just last week a family member was leaving and came up to me and said "Thank you so much for what you do, I want you to know we appreciate everything you do to care for our loved ones" and those rare moments are the times that I realize I am making a difference...

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Specializes in geri, psych, med surg.

We're missing an opportunity. LTC nurses need to actually spread the word, not only in support of each other, but also to educate the public about the terrific work we do. The population is aging, and the trend is for only the most frail and seriously ill to go to nursing homes. Our skills will be increasingly tested and in demand.

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Specializes in LTC/Skilled Care/Rehab.

I am one of those RNs who couldn't find a job and got "forced" into LTC. It wasn't that I didn't want to work with elderly people but I was scared because LTC gets a bad rep. I really love my resident (well most of them lol) and their families. I have worked in LTC about 4 months now and am starting to get the hang of it. Most nights I even get a chance to get a break! I have learned how to put on wound vacs, change suprapubics, insert G-tubes and many other things I never thought I would get a chance to do. And my assessment skills are getting really good. When you don't have doctors around you have to know when you really need to page the doctor or send someone to the ER.

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Upon entering nursing school, my heart was set on Peds. After I completed my peds rotation, I knew it wasn't for me. When I graduated nursing school there were so many positions available everywhere, every hospital and on almost every unit. Not having a clue where or what I wanted to do, I settled on a very small nursing home within walking distance to my house.

This was just to be a stepping stone, I am still there. I hate much of the money part of the nursing home business, but I can't see myself doing anything else. When I think about my future career goals, it is all about LTC. :redbeathe

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Specializes in OB, Peds, Med Surg and Geriatric Nsg.

I totally feel what most of you describe. There are even people out there that would ask what I do for a living. When I tell them I am a nurse, they ask what hospital and what department I am in. When I tell them its a SNF extended care facility, you could sense that the interest is gone. Then when I say I'm an RN, they say, what are you doing taking care with older people? Aren't you too young to care of one? I have no idea that there are plenty of ignorant people out there who sees LTC nurses as pill pushers, ass wipers, cleaning lady, maintenance guy and a whole of bunch of stuff that is beyond our 'job description' yet we do it to show that we care for these residents.

We maybe described as 'bottom of the barrel' but they have no idea on how much we do for that extra mile for these residents. And if we don't say a thing when they tell us 'you're just an LTC nurse', this generalization about LTC nurses continues.

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Specializes in Ltc, Hospice, Spinal Cord.

I hear a lot of dedication and love for your patients in these posts. I love my residents too. I'm proud to be a member of such a caring group of nurses! :redbeathe

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Specializes in Long term care-geriatrics.

I have had several friends that worked in hospitals. They would ask me where do you work? I would tell them at a nursing home. They would say A nursing home, why? Then I would start with explaining my day, talk about my patients and then I would turn to them and say how many patients do you take care of in a day(of course I have had 30 patients). They usually shut up and never ask me that question again.

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Specializes in Long term care-geriatrics.

LTC is not the bottom of the barrell. I didn't want to work in the hospital with constant changing of patients. In Long Term Care we work with the same residents for months and even years. We do some of the same things that nurses do in the hospital, but we don't have access to immediate labs, xrays or that matter doctors. We often have to really do nursing, make decisions, call families etc. Don't belittle the LONG TERM CARE NURSE.

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Specializes in geri, psych, med surg.

This post has really touched a nerve with a lot of us. I think LTC nurses have to have great skills of many kinds; assessment; judgment; interpersonal; and patience, to name a few. We have every right to be proud of what we do and how well we do it.

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I think this is terrible that LTC nurses are sometimes looked upon this way! I am a recent grad and have just started a position at a LTC facility. I am excited! How awesome is it that I can go and provide care to someone's loved ones when they can't! I see that it is going to be overwhelming and that does scare me a little but I look at it as an opportunity to learn and grow and love along the way! I had an instructor in school that was a specialist in the geriatric field and I promise that when she walked into a patients' room, angel wings appeared from her back, calmness engulfed the room and patients knew they were in excellent, loving hands. If I could aspire to be half the nurse she is then I can say that I have done my job.....I would dare anyone to tell her she is "only a LTC Nurse"! It does not matter where you practice your gift and skill, it matters only how. It does not matter what you do in a shift it matters how your patients were cared for and what the outcomes are. Nursing is from the heart. Be proud of who you are as a nurse and the care you provide, regardless of the facility you are in, I know I will!!!

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Specializes in Home Care.

I love my job as an LTC nurse.

Today one of our residents got sent out and was admitted to ICU with pneumonia. (If he would have been my responsibility he would have been sent out a few days ago.)

Anyway:

I went to the hospital to see him after my 12 hour shift today. I got there as the ICU nurse was doing her oncoming assessment. The resident, although in distress, was comforted to see me. I was able to tell the ICU nurse the name he preferred to go by and also tell her that he was chilled. She got him some nice warm blankets.

The ICU nurse commented on how fortunate I was to work with continuity of care in LTC. Of course she was very busy so our conversation was brief.

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