need opinions on my LTC job

[The Bell Jar]

I work in a LTC as the night shift charge nurse and have around 65 residents.I have 4 CNAs.I have the night med pass and morning med pass,treatments,and around 15 Med A assessments with the accompanying paperwork (also rounds obviously to check on things such as:make sure residents are actually in their rooms,body alarms are attached an on,catheter bags are attached to bed and not laying in residents bed with them,make sure O2 is on etc etc).I just start running when I get there and run til its time to leave.Also lets not forget the PRN narcs that takes time too.Most of these residents are total care too.

I really want to get a new job,but there is nothing out there here.I am thinking about a one hour commute to get a new job.Am I overreacting to this place?

[nkara, CNA]

It doesn't sound like a safe environment for you or the residents. I commute 45 minutes to where I work in a hospital and I wouldn't go back to LTC. I love it here. Good luck........

[The Bell Jar]

I am so stressed out by this place.There are frequents falls.Also recently,more than one nurse has quit with no notice due to it being an unsafe working environment.I am going to apply to the places an hour away.I handle the stress of this anymore.

[AllSmiles225]

I also work in an environment similar to yours. 60 patient med pass on 3-11 is NOT a fun job. It is actually terrible. I go in with a positive attitude and by 7 I realize that I'm not going to take a break..that my bladder WILL just have to EXPLODE because if I stop to pee I'll never get out of here..meanwhile EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the floor likes to sit by my med cart while Im trying to find 60 people and most of them are in the dining room anyway so it's just a big waste of time. Tube feeds to be hung.. Fingersticks to be done.. At LEAST 400 medications passed by the end of my shift. It is terrible and I do not blame you for going to work elsewhere as I would like to do the same thing but am stuck in the same bind your in. I also fear that the working conditions might be the same in other places.. same crap new job. I am more a babysitter and a pill pusher than a nurse where I work because I have calculated it out that I have to spend less than 8 minutes with each patient/night in order to get my med pass done. That includes fingersticks, g tubes, giving out 7-8 meds/patient..hanging feedings.. pushing the med cart around.. answering the thousands of chair/bed alarms along with call bells.. who needs prn pain meds and who wants their nebulizer.. it is IMPOSSIBLE to provide the kind of care that you and myself would like to provide working under these conditions. But like you said.. your stuck in a bind just like I am.. i hope something comes along for you--I know it will.