ltc nursing

witter, go into the Geriatric/LTC forum. TONS on information there.

I worked in LTC as a CNA before nursing school. As a nurse, I worked in the rehab of a LTC facility, but also worked the LTC floor occasionally.

In my opinion, the pros are:

Predictability-you get to know your patients very well and know what drugs they get, when treatments are due, etc.

Low stress (sometimes)-because you kind of know what to expect

Autonomy-especially since you will be working 3rd shift. You pretty much handle everything all night.

Rewarding- I always felt like I was really helping the patients, some don't feel that way though, because the patients conditions stay the same.

It's night time-most of them are asleep.

The cons:

The patient load-I had 25 patients on day shift. At some places, the ratio can be as high as 40. That is a lot of people to take care of.

Staffing-there tend to be alot of call outs (at least where I worked).

Paperwork-most paperwork is done at night in LTC.

It's night time-some patients stay up all night and can drive you crazy.

Lack of opportunity to use skills-this is very dependent on what type of facility you will be in. I gave mainly PO and topical meds, and insulin of course.

The lack of opportunity to develop my skills was really one of the only reasons I chose not to work in LTC. I'm a new grad and I didn't want to lose my skills. I might return to LTC one day though.

The first couple nights, or weeks, will probably be overwhelming because there are so many patients. But once you get to know everyone, I think you will enjoy it. Good luck with everything and let us know how it goes!