New Grad RN's in nursing homes

Specialties Geriatric

Published

This seems to be a new trend since the hospitals are not hiring us! I was hired as a charge nurse.... what about you guys? Tell me your experiences as a new grad R.N. in a nursing home!:nurse:

Hi i am a new grad RN too. got an offer at a nursing home for am 7- 3 pm shift . just wondering, they offer a 6 week orientation but they are offering me a much lower salary for the first 3 months (including the orientation) is this normal?

thanks

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Yes, a lower salary for orientation is pretty standard, at least where I am. 6 weeks of orientation is NOT standard. You are lucky to be given that much time. Good luck.

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I started to post here about my job in a LTC as an RN, and it made me feel once again that I need to decide if this job is worth the stress I have over it.

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Specializes in Foot care.

I thought I wrote about this somewhere, but the end to my particular story is that I worked two weeks and gave my two week notice. The place was dangerous. The DON essentially lived at the facility, filling in gaps in the schedule; she called her husband in to do maintenance work on a volunteer basis. Nurses or RPs worked double shifts as a matter of course. The company could not always meet payroll. No policies and procedures. After my relationship with the company was severed, I reported them to the Department of Public Health and OSHA. I'm still pursuing payment for cost of treatment for a needle stick injury; they had no insurance at the time of my injury. They had no procedure in place for a needle stick injury and as a new nurse, I didn't know exactly what should be done and when; luckily, the source was low risk. I learned a lot from this experience but it was not the best way to learn and could have had very dire consequences.

Good luck. Get out if it is dangerous. Report dangerous conditions to the overseeing authorities.

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I am also got hired in a Nursing home after years of being inactive as a nurse. I have 2 shifts on weekends. 16hours of work. I am just scared now because I don't know what to do.

Are there books made specifically for RN Nursing home care?

Can you please suggest some really good books to read?

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It's rough being a new grad RN in a nursing home full of very experienced LPNs and CNAs. They look at me like I'm supposed to know a lot of stuff because of education. But... a new career is still a new career! I feel pretty inadequate and try really hard not to make mistake. I think they want to make me do charge soon... trying to stall it since I don't quite feel comfortable yet.

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i'm most afraid about what emergencies I will run into most often and what skills i should brush up on, any ideas?

Emergencies I've run into in my 11 months....

-Severe respiratory distress. I ALWAYS call 911 first. Then the family. Then the doctor. I think that's technically the opposite of how it's supposed go, but it seems to be the best way of getting things done. I guess it just depends on your DON. If they're DNR and I KNOW the family doesn't want them sent out then I call the POA first just to make sure they haven't changed their mind. Otherwise I call 911, THEN call the family (or simultaneously...I'll have another nurse make the family call or vice versa.) The doctor's rarely answer calls/pages (I work nights) and in my experience don't call back for several hours. If pulse ox. is low 90s or high 80s I'll start O2 or increase it, give PRN neb and elevate HOB, monitor and keep trying to reach the MD. Protect your license. Know what's in your crash cart and where the back board is for CPR. Know how to overhead page.

-Chest pain....nitrostat and 911.

-Gtube comes out....Before that situation arises I'd find out if your Gtube ACTUALLY is a Gtube and not a PEG. I recently had a resident room-change to my wing; he'd been in the facility about a month, nurses were charting on his "gtube". I checked his orders for his gtube size and it wasn't there. Awesome. :banghead: I checked his uploaded documents (hospital transfer paperwork). I couldn't find anything specifying whether he had a Gtube or a PEG tube. Turns out it was a PEG, in which case you'd send them out for replacement. I was taught to insert a foley in the meantime to keep the insertion site open.

-Critical labs...I always check lab results that came back that day. Often the PM nurse I follow will just fax all her labs to the MD regardless if they're normal or low/high. We're supposed to call on labs if they're low/hi or critical. On a busy lab day the nurse you're following might have missed something. I've call the MD in the middles of the night for several critical labs the previous nurse had missed.

-Falls. Skin events. Power outages. Find out the policy on these before you start.

Good luck! ;)

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can't stop laughing :woot: loving the post wow

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Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.

I had to take some time off to take care of family health issues after getting steam rolled on a medical-surgical unit right after graduation (neither had anything to do with each other, it was just an all-around horrible year that coincided with taking a job that wasn't right for me).

Hopefully, within the next 1-2 weeks, I will be employed at a LTC facility that I just interviewed with. I was impressed with the facility and the staff, so I'm taking that to mean good things re: orientation and being a new grad there. I'm looking forward to the experience, even though I know it will be challenging for me, since I am technically a "stale" old new grad. But it will be worth it! :nurse:

So you can count me in as a new grad RN starting out in LTC. :)

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How has your experience been so far?

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Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.

Good so far! I am in the process of accepting a promotion offered to me at work (at the same place I mentioned in my last post). I have been there about 8 months. LTC has been good to me so far.

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Thank you so much for your reply! I recently received an offer at a nursing home and have just been debating whether it will be a right move or not. Any advice going into it you would share?

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