Please Help Me!! 50 pts med pass [New grad]

[medsurgcutie]

I am brand new to nursing I just received my license last friday. I landed a job right out of school and I thought great how lucky for me. I worked there as an aide until I passed the nclex and although its not a top of the line facility the staff seemed to care for the residents so I thought great.

Now that I'm on as a nurse they spring a 50 resident med pass on me. I gotta be honest that scares me. I don't really feel like I can safely do a 50 person med pass right now. I'm slow cause well I'm new and I don't know all the people yet and this is a behavioral unit so some of them can't tell me who they even are. I feel trapped because when I asked about nurse to patient ratio I was told at the most 1:28. The most meds I've passed at one time was to about 15 residents while in school, and now they place me on the behavioral unit and tell me to do a 9pm med pass to all these people. What should I do I desperately need help.

[aewblue]

I just started a new job at an LTC facility. They were going to give me 4 days orientation. I knew after 3 days that it wasn't going to be enough. They said I could have another 2 days but I still didn't feel that was going to be enough. I am a new LPN grad. So I have deferred my orientation days until a later date. I am waiting to see if I can get into a hospital in the meantime. I am so glad that I read your posting. I thought it was just me and that I was really stupid. I had 32 pts which is nowhere near as many as 50. Still overwhelming.

[greatshakes]

now i know this doesn't help in your situation but can you see the link between the american corporation and the nursing situation. i picked it up straight away but had to include the whole joke so you could see where i was coming from. if it makes you feel better good.

the economies of cows

socialism

you have 2 cows and you give one to your neighbour.

communism

you have 2 cows. the government takes both and gives you some milk

fascism

you have 2 cows. the government takes both and sells you some milk.

nazism

you have 2 cows. the government takes both and shoots you.

bureaucracy

you have 2 cows. the government takes both, shoots one, milks the other

and throws the milk away.

traditional capitalism

you have two cows. you sell one and buy a bull. you herd multiples, and

the economy grows. you sell them and retire on the income.

an american corporation

you have two cows. you sell one, and force the other to produce the milk

of four cows. later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow dropped

dead.

a french corporation

you have two cows. you go on strike because you want three cows.

a japanese corporation

you have two cows. you redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an

ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. you then create a clever

cow cartoon image called cowkimon and market them world-wide.

a german corporation

you have two cows. you re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat

once a month and milk themselves.

an italian corporation

you have two cows, but you don't know where they are. you break for lunch.

a russian corporation

you have two cows. you count them and learn you have 5 cows. you count

them again and learn you have 42 cows. you count them again and learn you have 2 cows. you stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

a swiss corporation

you have 5,000 cows, none of which belong to you. you charge others for

storing them.

a chinese corporation

you have two cows. you have 300 people milking them. you claim full

employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported

the numbers.

an indian corporation

you have two cows. you worship them.

an irish corporation

you have two cows. you claim government subsidies for eight cows.

a british corporation

you have two cows. both are mad.

[medsurgcutie]

now i know this doesn't help in your situation but can you see the link between the american corporation and the nursing situation. i picked it up straight away but had to include the whole joke so you could see where i was coming from. if it makes you feel better good.

the economies of cows

socialism

you have 2 cows and you give one to your neighbour.

communism

you have 2 cows. the government takes both and gives you some milk

fascism

you have 2 cows. the government takes both and sells you some milk.

nazism

you have 2 cows. the government takes both and shoots you.

bureaucracy

you have 2 cows. the government takes both, shoots one, milks the other

and throws the milk away.

traditional capitalism

you have two cows. you sell one and buy a bull. you herd multiples, and

the economy grows. you sell them and retire on the income.

an american corporation

you have two cows. you sell one, and force the other to produce the milk

of four cows. later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow dropped

dead.

a french corporation

you have two cows. you go on strike because you want three cows.

a japanese corporation

you have two cows. you redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an

ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. you then create a clever

cow cartoon image called cowkimon and market them world-wide.

a german corporation

you have two cows. you re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat

once a month and milk themselves.

an italian corporation

you have two cows, but you don't know where they are. you break for lunch.

a russian corporation

you have two cows. you count them and learn you have 5 cows. you count

them again and learn you have 42 cows. you count them again and learn you have 2 cows. you stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

a swiss corporation

you have 5,000 cows, none of which belong to you. you charge others for

storing them.

a chinese corporation

you have two cows. you have 300 people milking them. you claim full

employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported

the numbers.

an indian corporation

you have two cows. you worship them.

an irish corporation

you have two cows. you claim government subsidies for eight cows.

a british corporation

you have two cows. both are mad.

thats funny. i now work at another ltcf and i don't have 50 residents but we have our own little unique problems too. i'm dealing with those and learning something new everyday. i've been doing it for almost two months now, and i have to ask. i'm still slow with my med pass is that normal?

[greatshakes]

Sorry about the cow joke and I certainly don't want any of you to think I have lost it, well at least not yet. But the American corp (and many others I might add) I meant, sees everyone having to do more with less, less staff, less time ending up stressed and exhausted etc. And from all those meds needing to be given by one person, it seemed like a good example. Just thought I'd better explain my motives.

[farmlady]

Well I graduated in 2004, and stayed in school for a year to finish my RN prereqs, but had to stop short of my last RN semester becsause we needed the money.

All places are bad here, so what choice did I have? The first interview I had was for a clinic paying $11.80/hr. I made that as a school custodian so what was the point of that? I took a job with a registry at $20/hr being sent to various facilities over 100 miles from home. They were in tiny communities that used up their nursing staffs and had to use a lot of registry. My trai8ning as registry consists usually of about an hour of being shown where linen closets are and bathrooms and basic layout of the building. Then they throw you on the cart and your having learning experiences for months. Lucky my first 4 SNF's maxed at daytime med pass of 35. Usually it was less. But there are often so many treatments in some bad facilities, horrible wounds, from poor bathing and turning. The facility should have lost their license but the state inspectors turned their heads and let it slide. Unless I'm actually doing something wrong that I'm responsible for, I can't see how it's my license, when the facility is so messed up, there is no way to keep up with their poor practices.

As rough as my first year was, it was really good experience, and learning the paperwork is important, I could not have done it without the repetition, repetition, repetition! So now there are things I will seldom forget like signing out narcs.

I'm now finishing my second year under another registry so I value the experience of being able to see the workings of so many different facilities. I would love to have a long, leisurely training period, but I don't know of any that do that, especially for LPN's. I just read in the nursing journal that RN's get better and more lengthy training, and LPN's are routinely not given the training.

I am currently under contract for a northern NV county jail and I had 6 days training which was nice, but to pass meds to 150 plus or minus inmates and now in my third week, the venerable DON has dropped one nurse and I am now giving meds to 250-300 inmates. This is insane. I am excited to be speeding up my med pouring abilities, but there is no time even for lunch. In a 12 hour shift, 10 of those 12 hrs are spent standing in one spot pouring the meds. So my feet hurt and my knees are swelling. I also am passing am meds until 2 pm. This is bad nursing practice, but who do I complain to? NV is a right to work state, which means workers can do nothing in their own interest.

I would like to hire on with a permanant facility, but LPN's are not valued in NV. (Or in my county in CA) I need my RN to gain value there. I just get no responses from potential employers, even now with 2 years' experience in different types of facilities.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

the problem here is that they know what is involved in this type of job but they make a newbie feel like it is their fault, and that everyone else 'has no problem at all'

Yeah, I think that's pretty much standard.

[markyleo]

It smells like abuse! Get out of there it's not worth working in that facility, you could lose your license and if some experienced nurse told you, " well, our's use to be worse blah, blah, blah" Don't listen to them they might be an administrator of the same abusive facility or because they don't care about you they only want to bloat their ego and they want you to go through what they have gone through. I've been there and I advice you to leave. :angryfire

[greatshakes]

I have to admit I am disenchanted with my current LTC too and thinking of dropping the job. One week I get three nights then two months later not even a day then they will ring out of the blue and expect me to be happy to help out.and they wonder why I take so long. When I said I'd work casual I asked for at least one shift a fortnight. I got less than 6 hours orientation. They asked me to work the day I handed my paperwork in. I had to pass meds to about 31 patients. At 2100 hours I was still doing the 2000 hour meds. The supervisor rang up to see how I was going. I said 'slowly' although I was getting stressed. I had to let the night nurse else give the last meds. Two other nurses had left in tears I heard, after getting halfway through the round but I like to finish what I start. Then earlier, I was told to give insulin at 45 degrees (novo pen) and they didn't know they had to prime it. These are people like the clinical nurse etc.EEN who had been working for years. I was told 90 degrees unless patient very thin, and to prime the pen first. I don't think I will be going back. Shame because I love the older people and if I had some continuity I would be much better off.

[Simplepleasures]

Well I spoke with the DON today. I feel like she pretty much blew me off. She really didn't look to happy to see me and when I told her how I felt asked if the nurse I was doing orientation with felt it was too much for me. I told her no, the nurse I've been following said that she thought I'd be ok once I got a routine down. I told her that I personally feel that this is too much for me. She said that she would see what she could do but that she couldn't make any promises. So have I just basically been blown off?

YES,not surprising though.