POLL LTC Nurses... please answer

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Hey Guys........ LPN here taking classes for RN...... Have to write a speech about issues in health care..... Can be any issue.. So as a fellow LTC nurse, I would like to take a poll from here and the top 3 answers will be what I cover in my speech. So please respond with your honest opinions & concerns

Thanks so much for your input

**** poor leadership from heads of nursing, Administrators, unit managers, union money hounds that dont protect you just take there 3% and co-workers/owners that dont care

lead to 99% percent of all the problem

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Bad DONs.

Short staffing (caused by bad DONs)

Inappropriate residents (supported by bad DONs)

Staff that call out

Staff that don't do what they've been taught

Staff that don't know diddly.

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Specializes in retired LTC.
Bad DONs.

Short staffing (caused by bad DONs)

Inappropriate residents (supported by bad DONs)

How come you forgot to add - lack of supplies (not provided by bad DONs)???

ATTENTION ALL - I'm being SARCASTIC here. So, don't jump on me! I am a mgt/admin supporter!

To Hurricane, how many DONs have you worked with? I can understand if you've had poor experiences with one, but many??? Maybe you've just not been at the right places.

DONs answer to those that are above them in the hierachy chain of command. They too can only do what they're allowed to do. To lump them altogether is a bit sweeping.

If you've had it bad, I do understand and I can sympathize. Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Clinical Documentation Specialist, LTC.

Pairing a new hire or new grad. with a nurse who has no patience nor time to orientate the poor soul who will have to pass meds. x2 to 30 patients on a busy rehab. unit or long term care unit.

Administrators who make the schedules for the entire staff of a very large LTC home, creating havoc and confusion, not telling staff when schedule changes are made, therefore causing good staff to lose their job because they didn't come to work, thinking they were off that day.

Scheduling nurses and CNAs for six and seven days with only one day off. Doesn't leave much time to relax and regroup.

Administrators who micromanage and tie the poor DONs hands, overriding decisions and creating her own policies on a whim.

Horrible nurse to patient ratio, leaving little time for actual patient interaction, increasing risk of med. errors and hurried documentation because OT is strictly forbidden unless the Administrator approves of it ahead of time.

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How come you forgot to add - lack of supplies (not provided by bad DONs)???ATTENTION ALL - I'm being SARCASTIC here. So, don't jump on me! I am a mgt/admin supporter!To Hurricane, how many DONs have you worked with? I can understand if you've had poor experiences with one, but many??? Maybe you've just not been at the right places. DONs answer to those that are above them in the hierachy chain of command. They too can only do what they're allowed to do. To lump them altogether is a bit sweeping.If you've had it bad, I do understand and I can sympathize. Good luck to you.
In all fairness, she did say "bad" DONs, not ALL DONs. So I dont think she was lumping them together. Just sayin
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I didn't say ALL DONs. I said BAD ones. And they ARE a problem. Good ones are not a problem.

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Short staffing - caused by not enough nurses or CNAs so we get worked to death then have to take a day off for our mental health and physical health.

Better wages and benefits so that more people will be drawn to LTC, both nurses and CNAs. If we are fully staffed the workload is manageable, but fully staffed is a dream.

Definitely better wages for CNAs, better training for them, and education for the nurses that don't appreciate how a good CNA can totally make the shift! I believe if the wages were better, more people would want to do the job and thankfully we wouldn't be killing the ones we have now by overworking them! I don't mean time to sit around, but spend a day with a good CNA and you will see how hard they actually work, I personally could never keep up with them.

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1. Short staffing

2. Overwhelming amounts of paperwork

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Specializes in LTC/Sub Acute Rehab.

How cost cutting measures relate to overall patient care. Where I currently work they don't supply soap or disposable briefs ( YES, WE USE CLOTH DIAPERS); Mgmt is clueless as to why there is recurring skin issues with residents; its shameful considering poor nutrition due to dementia/Alzheimer's dx. CNAS routinely have 15-20 patients on all 3 shifts. We have no tx nurse or Dr. for wound rounds; our ADON does wound/vascular rounds, all this in the name of cost-effectiveness while the Administrator and DON line their pockets with bonuses for staying within their annual budget which is clearly a CONFLICT OF INTEREST let alone bad Ethics. Family members remain hostile and untrusting of the floor nurses and mgmt continues to throw them under the bus to save their own and the facility a**.Compensation. In the majority of ltc facilities, LPN'S are literally over worked and underpaid; and sadly for some nurses, this is the determining factor of the kind of work and care that they deliver to their patients. Where I work we aren't offered any kind of healthcare Beenies. NONE. SO, unless you have a spouse who provides insurance, you are fresh out of luck and to the public hospital for the indigent you go...How shameful to sit in hospital patient financial counseling and telling them your a Nurse and can't afford to pay the cost of your care upfront, needing to make payment arrangements.

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The hottest trend in our country: "Doing less with more". It's permeated health care and it shows.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/Ortho/Psych.

nurse to patient ratio

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yikes.cloth diapers?

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