New MR/DD Nurse

[HannasMom]

I have been hired by Developmental Services as a LPN working with persons with developmental disabilites. I will be working in a residential home, caring for two women. I also have a caregiver who will work with me. My days are Sat and Sun from 7am to 11 pm.

I start training in the residential home tomorrow from 11am to 3pm and Friday from 7am to 3pm. Then next week starts 2 weeks of classroom training, plus training in several other homes, so if I'm needed on any Wednesday, I will be prepared for any of the homes.

This job will certainly be different from providing care to 48 patients in LTC. No more uniform, street clothes instead, more laid back, we get to take the residents out to go shopping, etc.

I think I may really get to like this.

[hb4hikes]

Wow where do you work with that type of ratio (state?), that is incredible for DD nursing. I have been in DD for years, and have really enjoyed working with the residents. Good Luck!

[msu2011]

Res Care is a great place to work too. In the Waiver homes the nurse just goes in and passes the medications, any treatments, makes Drs appt's, and of course vitals. The nurse does not take the consumers to Dr's appts, or shopping, as a nurse would not have the time and could not bill on such services.Res Care does not require the nurse to stay at the waiver home sites as well. If a nurse gets hired in at an ICF home, then she/he is required to stay. I guess this would depend on what you want to do. The only thing bad about the job is the billing. You have to keep up with your nurses notes everyday;keep up on billing and hand it in on Fridays. Working with the MRDD population does have it's rewards as well.

The pay for LPN is 15 an hr, and 35 cents a mile.

[ddccandy]

I work for a residential provider of ICF-MR and we have 8 group homes with a total of 57 residents. Three nurses. We also have direct care staff to help train, care for, supervise the indiduals we serve. The nurses are responsible for health care issues, appointment scheduling, training of staff on the various health related issues from medication administration to what to do when a seizure occurs as well as lot of paper work. I would not want to do anything else

I am in North Carolina and the pay averages $17 or $18/hour and 37 cents a mile.

[nolongeributhe09]

I am going to start my new job as charge nurse in MR/DD Texas state school soon. Does any one out there have any experience with texas state school?

[Chaoticdreams33, MSN, RN]

That does sound like more fun than what I do, which is mostly just paperwork, training, and med error sanctions (more paperwork and training!!!). We never have any time to spend with our clients at all. I would love to be able to go out with the clients and be more involved with them.

It is a really easy job, but busy, and can be very boring. I am losing too many of my clinical skills, which is why I am looking for a new field. But the scheduling flexibility as well as no weekends will be really hard to pass up!!!

Your training sounds great! I hope you like it!

[nursepjs50]

I also work for Rescare in Indiana. I have been a group home nurse for 12 years. I have 3 homes,24 clients that I do medical follow-up. We dont do billing any more in our wavier sites. Company gets paid a set amount each month. I dont go on appts unless there is a major issue going on. The staff in the homes take them. I follow up on the appts afterwards, doing charting, making sure any labs, x-rays etc are scheduled. I do weekly charting, monthly summaries,Quartley physical assessments, train monthly at staff meetings on medical issues, new treatments etc. Staff in house passes all meds do tx and call me with any new issues going on with the clients, which means i am on call 24/7. But I have had my houses so long that the house staff pretty much know what to call me about.Staff also do weekly vitals signs. They go thru a 3 day training when they are hired on medicall and med passing. They must pass 2 state test in order to work in the homes... Home supervisors and myself monitor the med and mars daily.. I attend all annual ISP and any Idt meetings as needed. I also work with our Pharmacy in Kentucky on all med issues.Each home has a staff?med coach I work very closely with to make sure all appts happen and follow up is done. I love my job, very rewarding but very frustrarting at times trying to get services the clients need, and working wih staff and all their personalities.. Have a great day and hope to hear from you soon. What state do you work for??? Take care:):)