I applied at a LTC facility in my area. I have never worked in a LTC before and my only experience with them was when I was a student and did a clinical rotation in one. I am interested in changing into this field from hospital nursing because I enjoy the elderly and I think the job is far more interesting.
When I went into the facility they took me on a tour and showed me around. The place smelled like urine and tube feeding formula. The patients appeared clean and I could not find anything on the internet regarding state write ups at this facility. My question is: do LTC's just smell this way or should this be a sign to me?
Also, the workload is as follows: 117 patients, 3 LPNs and I charge per shift. Is that the norm?
Even though we try,some smells just seem to linger!!We have special powdered stuff that we can sprinkle on the carpets to soak up odours.We also repaint and recarpet each room when that resident departs. The main culprits are the residents who decide to pee in corners in the corridors!!
I have one resident who likes to whip it out and pee where ever and when ever he feels like it. They had to stop sending him to the dining room because he would spray anyone within a five foot radius of him while they were eating!
Even though we try,some smells just seem to linger!!We have special powdered stuff that we can sprinkle on the carpets to soak up odours.We also repaint and recarpet each room when that resident departs. The main culprits are the residents who decide to pee in corners in the corridors!!
Way way back when I was in nursing school, I went with my preceptor (home health) to a nursing home in the county where I was studying to check on a patient.
The place was quite old, you could tell it had been around for a LONG time and was kind of in an out-of-the-way place. We walked in & the first thing I noticed was that it did NOT smell like urine. It smelled fresh but not like harsh chemicals. It was spic-and-span clean, the residents were relaxed. The food tasted more like home-cooked than institutional. (Yes, they let me taste it.) Just by observing the staff, you could tell they LOVED their jobs and they treated residents like their own families.
After we walked out, I mentioned all that to my preceptor. She told me there was a waiting list a mile long to get in this small, old, hole-in-the-wall place. Now, THAT is a place I'd like to work.
the facility that i work in has a very low population compared to some. we have two halls, and one hall has more of an odor than the other. there are more incontinent residents on that particular corridor, more total care, etc., and their rooms do retain the smell. it doesn't matter how often the staff goes in and cleans the residents, how often housekeeping mops, the fragrance remains. one of the community bathrooms really gets bad; when i was an aide i even went so far as to use straight chlorine on its floor with a mop; the odor stayed gone for a while, but was soon back. i think the urine gets in the grout and stays, no matter how much scrubbing/deodorizing is done. i do try to make sure that all the laundry is taken to the cleaning room at the beginning and end of my shifts, because it can definitely be a turn off to visitors as well as staff and residents. luckily, we don't have carpet in any of the residential areas; tile is less likely to soak up urine!
The nursing home I worked in first always smelled of urine and strong chemicals. It's a smell I got so used to I didn't notice after a while.
The small group homes I work in now do not smell at all. They are houses in neighborhoods, and are treated as any other houses people live in. Briefs are wrapped up taken outside immediately so the smell doesn't linger inside. During the day and weather permitting, we try to open the windows of resident's rooms to keep it aired out.
Once, a state inspector arrived on my shift. One of his first comments upon entering was that there was no odor. I took that as a good sign right from the start. :nuke:
I have never worked in an LTC that smelled. To me it is a sign of poor housekeeping. Yeah, there are always times when Mr X has stunk the toilet out, but a good odour neutraliser and ventilation should solve that.
It really should'nt smell like urine or feces and occasionally it happens and as the other posters noted could be stuff in the trash. Our housekeepers are constantly working on the floor, and everything smells fresh.
On a positive note I love working with one particular CNA- all her residents smell like cotton candy! She uses a small spritz of Bath and Body Works on them and they smell sooooo goooood!
Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.
Hey y'all,
I've been following this forum religiously since deciding w/ great difficulty that hospital nursing just isn' t for me and nursing homes just may be.
LTC may have its share of incontinent and feeble but in a good locale they are tended to and the "smell" goes away eventually.
In the nasty hospital I just left, the garbage in the bathrooms was always overflowing as was the stench coming out of the break rooms and the refrigerator, because the entitled nasty little piggy nurses with their stylin coifs and flashy jewelry and expensive scrubs wouldn't bend over to pick up their trash, clean up after themselves, or deign to wipe a counter top or microwave after using.
It seems to me that the nurses who really care for their pts as people who need assistance in their later years are lucky to have a caring staff look after their smells and make them better. But what excuse do the nurses in the hospitals have?
I find a big cause of smells is d/t laundry not being bagged before going to the hamper. Everytime the lid comes off odors get out! Most of the time it isn't coming from the residents (I try to be positive anyway)
When I went into the facility they took me on a tour and showed me around. The place smelled like urine and tube feeding formula.
That's the smell of a bad facility. Not necessarily bad employees, maybe understaffed. A good facility with good employees and adequate staff won't smell other than the occasional BM smell.
Let me add that the only thing you should smell is maybe fresh urine or bm that just happened. That nasty strong ammonia urine smell is stale urine. No facility should allow these smells to linger.
GeneralDogsbody
14 Posts
Even though we try,some smells just seem to linger!!We have special powdered stuff that we can sprinkle on the carpets to soak up odours.We also repaint and recarpet each room when that resident departs. The main culprits are the residents who decide to pee in corners in the corridors!!