Ontario Classification (Funding)

[LadyLurker]

any other long term care nurses here?

anyone else going through the annual "omigod, classification is in september!", with administration saying "change all the care plans, and do it now, and do it right, because if the cmis drop, it's *all your fault*"?

[cannurse]

No wonder I've been able to hire some excellent nurses from LTC lately. My area is Complex Care /Rehab/Geriatrics/Rehab.When Ontario Hospitals are talking about the "nursing shortage" I don't think they have any idea how short they are in LTC. The nurses I have hired have excellent assessment and leadership skills coming out of LTC. They truely loved LTC nursing but with the increasing workloads and non union pay scales it was time for a change. Nurses are a valuable worker in all health settings, most nurses that work in LTC do it because they love it not because they " can't cut it" in acute care. Don't let the classification drive you nuts.

[LadyLurker]

You're right, cannurse. All the talk is about hospital shortage, and in LTC, we're *crying* for nurses. And the new hires we get aren't offered full time, only casual or parttime/casual, so they need a second or third job to pay the bills, so they aren't available for the call-ins, and the whole circle continues.

We're unionized at my facility, so our pay isn't too shabby, but the workload continues to escalate, mainly in the paperwork department, and if the CMIs don't go up sufficiently, then the PSW hours are cut, leading to MORE overwork, and the morale drops accordingly.

I dread classification, totally dread it.