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Deep breath....you are not too slow....you are not too dumb. You are smart and capable. Five days is not long enough to be done with orientation. Absolutely nothing wrong with asking for more time on orientation. No reason to feel embarrassed or incapable. Asking for more orientation time will allow you to learn to do the job in an efficient and safe way. Safety first, right? Hold your head up high. You can do this.
When I first started in LTC, I was slow. However, I got faster and better at my med pass. It comes with time. You'll get a rhythm going and you'll find it easier. LTC is so hard, and it can cause a lot of stress. Focus on your improvements. You will get quicker, you will make it and NO you are not stupid. You might not be fast, but that does come with time.
One thing about LTC, you will gain time management skills. It will just take a bit of time. Go easy on yourself!
Ok, when I only had 40-41 years experience as RN, and had been previous DON in several LTC, As a favor to an owner of a LTC, I came in to do the evening med pass I knew no patients, and rarely pushed a cart, thankfully with some help of awesome CNAs, related to patient identification, I finished, in tears almost nine hours later.........feel better, keep at it,
your time I me management will improve
You are smart and you will get it, just give it time. You passed your classes, passed the NCLEX, got the job, right? Every day will get a little better.
You're struggling because you're; learning who the residents are, what their routines are so you can find them and give them meds, learning the routines of the building, learning how to use the phone, where supplies are, what the treatments actually are, etc. That's not even the paperwork and doctor stuff. You're learning a ton of information.
There are 3 wings where I work and I mainly trained on one wing, floated occasionally to another wing. The third one I went to for one day only and spent the entire time passing meds. A few months later and a new nurse was training on that wing. I talked to my coworker that was training her and he told me she was still passing meds at 11:00 ish. I reminded him that I had the same kind of day when I worked that wing. He'd totally forgotten! In time, your coworkers will forget that you struggled when you were new.
People did get annoyed from time to time that I was new and messed things up, so I made sure to ask them how I was supposed to do things so that I wouldn't mess up again. I made sure to thank them for their time. That seemed to help, it reminded them that I was slow and messing up because I was new and didn't know, not because I was lazy and just didn't care.
I asked for more time training and was very honest about not feeling comfortable with a short amount of training. They gave me a couple extra days. I also found a nurse that was incredibly supportive and helped me with my med pass and all my questions. I wouldn't have stayed at my job if I hadn't had so much of her help. A lot of people talk about her behind her back, I never join in on that and tell them how wonderful she's been to me. My advice is to see if there is someone like that at your job and to keep an open mind.
Good luck, working in LTC is very rewarding and I hope things get better for you!
Dsullivan13
2 Posts
I just passed my boards first time in on March 22 became an lpn at a rehab long term facility and had five days of orientation I'm so lost I had several different preceptors show me all different ways and I feel stupid overwhelmed and discouraged beyond words I have left the facility every day crying and when I asked for more time they posted it for everyone to see that a nurse needs to help me 😔I was told I need to speed up my med pass I have only been there five days I do not know the pets very well and all the paperwork plus the wound care and there are 30 pts to get to know I don't feel comfortable at all speeding up I know I'm slow but I'm learning I just feel like maybe I chose the wrong profession and I'm too slow and dumb to be a nurse 😔😔