Just wanting to know if anyone else has experienced any of these issues.
As an LPN of 16 yrs., and almost 60 years old, I find myself on the "outside, looking in" quite frequently. Needless to say, I'm the oldest floor nurse at the LTC facility where I work, and very near the oldest employee at the facility.
I can laugh and joke with the best of them, but I also believe patient care is priority. On 3-11 shift there are 3 nurses for 100 patients (at capacity). All of us are LPN's. HR at this particular facility hired approximately 8-10 newly licensed LPN's. I remember being new, but this is an entirely different attitude displayed. These new graduates with less than a year's experience, parade up and down, the first ones to see everything as life or death, and the ones that aren't experienced enough to recognize certain signs and symptoms. One nurse in particular has AADD, and freely admits it. She is hyper continually and takes Phentermine (which does not slow her down).
Four nurses that I know are taking phentermine while on the job, the DON, ADON are aware. There are instances where CNA's have fed patients the wrong diet, where incident reports were changed by the DON (along with explanations she forwarded to the State). When any concern is brought to the attention of Nursing Supervision, nothing happens. Instead of welcoming suggestions that relate to safety of the residents, you're viewed as a "troublemaker". I have expressed my feelings to the administrator, and although he sympathized with my frustration, he's accepted another job at another facility.
As I told him, some people get so comfortable with their jobs because they've had them so long that anyone they perceive as a "threat" to their way of conducting business is given the "squeeze". The social services director is married to the Physical Therapist. CNA's allowed to get away with non professional conduct, violating Hipaa regulations, a tx nurse that doesn't do treatments, but sits outside and smokes. The list goes on and on. It begins with HR and follows to the DON, ADON, and nurse managers. There is never enough staffing, residents do without their showers, some CNA's don't wash the residents when giving pericare, some residents don't get evening snacks offered them, some don't even have ice passed.
When healthcare became "for profit", and department managers are given bonuses for coming in under budget, it ceased to be HEALTHCARE. When patients are "skilled" for balance or something else ridiculous, when they can't even sit up. Then again, we all know "skilled" residents mean more revenue, don't we?
Residents admitted for "skilled" care that have mental disorders ranging from schizophrenia to bi-polar, 2 cna's responsible for 30 residents, not to mention that "nursing hours" are what counts with the State. No one bothers to tell families these "nursing hours" also include the 10 or more nurses in management that never touch or see residents. When is anyone in the government going to wake up and take note of what is REALLY going on in nursing homes?
CNA's discharged for patient neglect and/or abuse never reported to the State registry, but go on to other facilities to repeat the same behaviors.
Sorry for the rant, but there are so many things that could be corrected if only someone cared enough to hold people accountable for actions.
