New Inpatient Rehab Nurse

[WittySarcasm, BSN]

(I hope this is in the right spot)

Hi,

I'm not really a new nurse, or even a new rehab nurse however I am new to the whole hospital scene. When I started out nursing I was a LTC nurse, and then became a LTC rehab nurse. I've been in LTC and LTC rehab for 3 years now- sadly I never got the new grad experience at a hospital because of hiring freezes that were going on during my graduation year.

Recently I got hired into a hospital for their rehab unit. I know that this rehab will be different then the LTC rehab because they are more acute then when they would come to me.

I want to make a good impression on them and am willing to learn (it's my goal to get into PEDs- so I want to make this hospital like me). Anyways are there any tips or information that you would be willing to pass on to a new hospital nurse? I still have my orientation to do, so that may help a little. However any tips or suggestions that anyone can give me will be a life saver.

Thank you so much for your time and patience!

[mom2cka]

Check out rehabnurse.org and review the article they have about FIM; the CAT exams are also very good. They have role descriptions that can help you figure out maybe who does what. You will spend a lot of time on FIM, documentation, and patient education, so if you can focus on the client populations (for me, it's stroke, neuro, spinal cord, TBI, etc.), it might increase your comfort level. Coming from LTC will be beneficial for some of that (knowledge of bowel programs, family relationships, etc). Good luck!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I used to work in LTC/SNF rehab, and now I work at a freestanding rehab hospital. With a few exceptions, some of the patient populations will be very similar.

You will see many orthopedic cases such as knee and hip replacements, ORIFs, arthroscopies, limb amputations, etc. You will see medical cases such as CVAs, CHF exacerbation, debility secondary to pneumonia, and s/p MI. You will see spinal cord injuries such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, and cauda equina syndrome. You will also see traumatic cases such as patients who have been in motor vehicle accidents, patients who have fallen off roofs, and the occasional patient who has been beaten up.

I agree with the previous poster regarding becoming familiar with the FIM (functional independence measure) scale. Good luck to you!

[pockunit, ADN, RN]

FIM and IRF-PAI measurements are critical to payment so those are high on your list of Things To Learn. If your rehab is like mine, it's not post-op stuff, that goes to Med-Surg. We get the CVAs, BIs, etc. It's much more acute and long term over shoulders and hips. I can't believe how fast they chuck those pts out, whereas ours can be on the unit for 3 weeks or longer. Depending on where you work, there may be a turf battle between nursing and therapy. I can't figure it out, but both sides are really antagonistic toward each other. If you're lucky, both services will get along. Getting meds passed before therapy starts is the biggest challenge, at least on the day shift. Nights are a good time to do online CEUs

[WittySarcasm, BSN]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I've been looking over the website and it just looks like a place I can focus on for hours just with the learning potential. Thank you so much everyone!

[Cehurstrn]

My unit trains every nurse on FIMS and promotes that they get CRRN once qualified. I am really looking forward to learning and getting certified!