Ok people, face facts: Staffing in LTC is always going to be outrageous!

Specialties Geriatric

Published

All these threads about staffing ratios are driving me nuts! I have worked LTC for 16 years now. Staffing is what it is people. It is not going to change or get better. It is what it is. The decision you need to make is "Do I want to work in LTC?". Be realistic about the job. If you continually have these feelings of things are unfair and you think you can do something about it when noone has been able to for years and years, then you are always going to be disappointed. There is no middle ground...you love it or you hate it. I hate to sound jaded but all these whining staff posts are driving me nuts! Continually complaining will do nothing but put you on a radar at work you do not want to be on. And if you think going over your DON's head to the administrator is the right choice, think again people. It's time to look at the job logically. Life is unfair. Grow up. if you accept the job...then do it! If you don't like it...then stop whining and do something about your own life....get a new job! sorry for the rant....

Working in poor conditions is a choice.

Employers will always replace a dissenting staff member with one who will suck up the horrendous conditions in exchange for a paycheck.

Until more nurses stop selling their personal and professional morals and ethics for a paycheck nothing will change.

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Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.
Shouldn't the administrator and/or DON have been handling this themselves? I don't understand why staff should be expected to police their own instead of management handling it.

We did this at our facility and it worked. We wrote them up, talked to them, did everything under the sun. But when they became accountable to each other it became a different matter. The person who calls in and make the unit short is the same person who has to suck it up when it happens to them. I am sorry but "personal reasons" is not a reason to stay out of nursing job. "I have a headache" doesn't cut it either. If you have a headache that can't be helped, it won't hurt any worse (or less) if you go to work.

These are people we care for. They are not machines that can be turned off and sit if there is a shortage. We all knew that when we went to work in nursing.

Nursing works nights, weekends, holidays, etc. That's the plain fact. And the ones who call in are the very ones who complain when they don't get a promotion because of their attendance. Just my observations.

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Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

yes you are absolutely right@ OP. I couldnt suck it up any longer so I left

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Specializes in CVICU.
You absolutely can fight "city hall" and win, too. I went through this recently and prevailed resulting in a policy change that will benefit hundreds of employees. Had I listened to all the people telling me "that sucks, but get over it," I would be part of the problem, too.

Changing a policy is one thing, but changing staffing ratios and messing with the all mighty bottom line is a different story all together. When one fights city hall one must also be willing to accept the consequences of that action. I agree you can fight city hall but you have to be willing to be all in and if you get fired as a result then so be it because that is a real possiblity.

One must measure the risk/reward in taking this action. If you get fired from one place for being a rabble rouser you might find difficulty in getting new employment in the area. Employers to talk to each other off the record ya know.

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric, renal.

I respectfully disagree with you. I work in LTC, and yes, sometimes it can be horrible (especially if you dont have a good scheduling dept.) But that does not mean we should just lie down and take it. I think going over the DONs head can be a bad choice too, but we can at least try and make progress in this area. We can suggest new ideas. If your place of employment has an open-door policy then go! Make suggestions. State that you are not complaining about anything, just trying to make the work environment a little more tolerable. And if nothing happens right then, then nothing happens. But we can at least try. Its horrible to think that nursing is just always gonna stay the same because of people who have been in the field for awhile who just accept and tolerate bad change. Sometimes you need a fresh outlook.

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric, renal.
It's an all 5-star rated medicare facility in Ohio. They hire plenty of nurses because it's private pay for the most part and VERY expensive. I hate to say it but medicare will never fund nursing homes enough until they refuse to stop accepting patients whose medicare/medicaid doesn't even pay for their meds and care. It's SNF/rehab.

The unit I was on with 30+ patients was long-term care, but it included patients with trachs, breathing treatments, you name it. If that's "easy" then count me out of LTC. Cause it's not a cake-walk.

And to the girl complaining about new nurses-

I am a new nurse, got no training, always reorder supplies and meds (when I've been trained or figure out how) and see the "experienced" nurses sitting on their duffs eating McDonald's while I RUN for patients. And it's not the new nurse who constantly comes in late to relieve me. So don't pretend like the problem is "new nurses." We didn't let this situation become the way it is so don't blame us for the problems. It's not always the "new nurse" who created them.

Great response. Like I was saying in my last post, sometimes we need a fresh outlook and those of us who are (good) new nurses can bring this to the table. No, were not gonna be able to fix everything, and we dont want to break yuor established norms, unless we feel they put us at risk and are unfair. But it is silly to stop trying. nothing will ever get done then. Maybe we will fail, but its ok to learn that fact.

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric, renal.
In LTC it seems to be all about the profit margin-even if you are working in a non-profit.No-one wants to loose money in the business.I will not accept a dangerous assigment and I will make an anonymous complaint to the department of health if I feel it is warranted.

I happen to work in one of the better staffed homes in this area (even after last years cutbacks and job eliminations) I have worked in much worse conditions and I get really sick of brand new nurses coming to work and whining about staffing, bytching about having to work weekends and holidays and lack of supplies (especially when they are as responsible for stocking upand ordering meds as anyone else) They seem to think that they should be able to start the day eating their cereal at the desk and chit chatting about "last night" and they feel put upon if they can't .Meanwhile I am twice their age and getting more accomplished in a half and hour then they can in half a day.It gets old,very fast....

I agree, some new nurses aren't worth much. But I will say, at the places I've worked I have not seen NEARLY enough training to get us new people to realize what we are SUPPOSED to be responsible for. My first job gave me three shifts under someone, then asked me to do it myself. I'm sure people were upset with me because I wasn't completing all tasks, but I had not been told how to complete them, or wasn't even told about them at all when I was trained. We need to improve training programs as well.

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Just want to say that maybe some people are not so upset about having to work harder, maybe they feel it is unfair and unsafe for the elderly and disabled people who live in LTC. Its not always whining, sometimes people really care about their residents.

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I don't mind running and working my butt off for my whole shift. However, when I don't have the time to take a set of vitals for a patient or do good wound care or even talk to them for 1 minute, that's not safe and I'm not gonna be that kind of nurse.

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Specializes in 6 Years Hematology and Oncology.

I could not agree more. I work on a behavior floor- psych meets dementia and so on. Two nurses 3O pts. There is screaming, Residents trying to climb out bed, elevator alarms going off. It's absolutely crazy. I feel lucky that I got 7 days on the floor to orient but still the paperwork side of things sucks because I was never around to be able to see what goes on, too busy passing all meds on orientation while preceptor was somewhere. : / it's frustrating to say the least. I absolutely dread going in to work, I hate it more and more every day. I'm looking into AL if possible.

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I'm hoping to get a critical care fellowship position. I can't take LTC anymore. I'm hoping my new position is better but oif the nurses who worked in LTC for years and years are happy with the way it is and are willing to take the abuse and be the nurse who doesn't have time for anything, they can stay there cause it's just plain UNSAFE and most new nurses I know are just are not interested in being pill-passing robots. Not trying to be offensive to LTC nurses in any way cause some are awesome, but the environment is awful where I've been and I became a nurse to help people, not so I could give out 60 simvastatins everyday and hate my job.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Find a good facility. Mine has a 1:5 CNA to resident ratio. Residents get up when THEY want to; go to bed when THEY want to. The staffing is wonderful and the residents all get the care they need. It's not always easy since putting the resident at the center of the day is not a usual thing in this business, but it makes for happy residents and happier staff.

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