pkeyrn

Herniated 3 discs in my lower back 2 1/2 years ago at work. Moving an expired patient from his bed to the mortician's stretcher - doing everything right...4 other people assisting, bed at the proper height...according to the doctors, sometimes it is ...

It would be really interesting to see how many motor vehicle accidents happen to pople driving home from a night shift. Even more interesting to see how many happen to people after working an overtime (especially a mandatory OT where they were not ab...

I am an RN and have been practicing in northern New York State for 24 years. 1. One of the main causes of the nursing shortage here is a lack of retention. There is not a shortage of nurses...there is a shortage of nurses who are practicing their pro...

I work in long term care. We often have residents at the end of life who have what we call "Comfort Care Orders". However, the MD must sit with the resident,family and Nurse Manager or Social Worker and go through a long checklist.They can pick and c...

My nursing home recently moved into a new building. We also have all new furniture. All of the new beds are the type which lower down to within 8 inches from the floor. We have found that some of our residents are being found on the floor at times, w...

I was in nursing for over 20 years (all in long term care where there is a ton of lifting...especially in the "old days" before No-Lift programs) before I injured my back. When my injury occurred, I was doing everything right, the bed was elevated to...

I have had migraines since I was in my teens. I am now 46. I also have the aura (flashing lights about 5 minutes prior to the onset of pain and then a blind spot once the pain hits). I understand all about the nausea and sensitivity to light and soun...

I myself have a very long (and I would like to think impecable) background in long-term care and management (23 years). But even in the field of geriatrics, I don't think that I know everything and I would gratefully accept advice and assistance from...

In my 23 years in LTC I have worked at 3 different nursing homes. In all 3 the policy on nailcare was the same: Licensed nursing personnel had to do all nailcare on diabetic residents. CNAs could do any other residents. However, the care of toenails...

I used to work night shift on an Alzheimer's Unit. 4o residents. On a good night maybe half of them slept in between incontinence rounds. The other half were either wandering up and down the hall, into other resident rooms, into the nurses' station o...

I know what you are talking about. I work in long term care, the residents are elderly and immunocompromised. We post signs at every entrance asking people not to visit if they have cold or flu symptoms so that they will not infect the residents. Our...

My last job...long term care...worked 11p-7:30a...only nurse to 80 residents with a full med run starting at 5a...mathematically figured out at one point that in order to do meds in alloted time frame could spend less than 1 minute per resident. The ...

It is all a matter of being able to separate work from leisure. I have worked as a Supervisor and other areas of administration for many years now. I also have had several friends, good friends, that were CNA's, LPNs and floor RNs as well as housekee...

All you need to do is ask yourself some questions...(1) Are you there to be a nurse and care for residents or are you there to be popular and everyone's favorite? (2) Do you think that you know what the problems on this unit are? (3) Do you have ...

Not uncommon at all - don't be surprised if you even saw a couple of other antihypertensives or antianginals thrown in as well sometimes when dealing with the elderly.

I have heard of it being done by teleconference. I live/work in NY

After 23 years in LTC I have seen my share of slackers, workers who let others carry the brunt of the load. I have often gotten angry and upset by this. One time i particular that I remember, a male CNA was just sitting in the hallway in a rocker nex...

In our facility, the day and evening shifts are to call in a minimum of 2 hrs before they are due to be on duty. The night staff however has to call in a minimum of 4 hours before they are due in. This has caused problems in the past as many night sh...

Does anyone know if the use of a "low bed" that goes down to within a few inches of the floor is considered a restraint in the case of a confused resident who likes to wander about?

You know, we all hear the horror stories on the evening news about the old lady who was left to die in her bed in the nursing home - the staff was too busy taking smoking breaks and joking around with each other to take care of her. The strange thing...

in my faciility a DNR order is good for 60 days and if the dr hasnt renewed it by the time the 60 days is up, the whole process has to be put into place from step one and the resident becomes a "do resuscitate" until it is finalized again