Olga

I am prior service and just recently finished BSN. I work in VA nursing home (subacute rehab). I have 6 months experience in that position. Anyone knows if Army in need of Rns right now? due to covid.. I guess I could only try for Med-Surg RN. Active Duty.

I guess it is more than one position so some might be permanent and some not. VA can be confusing. Definitely ask them questions on Monday. Good luck!

One thing I can say - it is NOT like other nursing homes, it is a safe environment. I have 11 patients for med pass most of the time. I have worked in other nursing homes where I had 49... so no, it is generally safe in my experience, I always have someone else on the floor to ask for help or if I have questions. There are more experienced nurses and managers on the unit. Never ever was I the only RN on the floor or only license on the floor. There are 3 LPNs to pass meds, sometimes we go down to 2 for the 6pm meds... so the most patients I had is 16-17. I ran away from my first job in private nursing home, that was a very bad, very unsafe experience, so I know what concerns you have, but VA is very different. With all the flaws they have it is very safe to learn skills and practice.

That is why I took this position as well, I also heard that my location is really far from the best... so to say. Is that a permanent full time position? I would take it, I do not know how much experience you have, but as a new RN I learned some skills there in safe environment. Compared to private nursing homes they are definitely much better.

Hi, yes, I have. It is OK, I am a COVID hire and most of the time I perform the duties of LPN, that is passing meds, but of course as an RN I can do other things that LPN cannot. So, I do med pass during the day. Sometimes, but very rarely I do EKG or a blood draw. I can also start an IV but just never had a chance. We have G-tube patients, trach patients and vent patients (vents are separate and I have never worked with them). I learned how to do tracheostomy care there so I am happy about that. The structure is that we have a number of CNAs, LPNs (to pass meds) and couple of RNs... I think they mentioned that before there was only one RN to oversee others and her duties would be blood draw, IVs, EKGs.... paperwork, new admission or discharge. That is charge nurse position. Some charge nurses do wound care, some do not. But in general charge nurse is expected to "run the unit", help LPNs or CNAs and troubleshoot whatever happens. I am used to it, but I realized I would not want to be Charge nurse there, they have a lot of problems with staffing and this is the biggest headache in the morning because a number of people called in and now charge RN needs to figure out who takes what assignment.. Some people will help you if need be and some just won't.

Forgot she visited a patient? Had 0 documentation, not even started anything? Sounds like bs. What system are u using for documentation? What kind of visit is that? Regular reassessment or something else (dressing change, for example)? I would cancel that visit completely, if it's still possible. Better to lose money for one visit than get into this kind of trouble.

Hi, CONGRATS! I think my experience is very different in terms of hiring process. I told them I am available June 1, and couple of days before that I got my firm offer with the start day of June 1st. So I went in without fingerprints, drug test, vetpro and equip (I'm not sure if I did it at all). I think it was easy to determine my salary because I have no experience...so there was no need for the board or anything like that. I do not think they contacted my references yet (6 weeks after I started), because they would let me know. I was told I will go into orientation on June 1st, but turned out its not scheduled till June 8th. So I spent first week looking around on the floor. Then orientation (they wanted to give me couple of days, but I stayed for the whole week). Then I had another week on the floor, getting access to the systems etc, learning med pass and basically codes for the doors and where everything is. I could absolutely get more training time, but I wanted to start working on 12 hr shifts so I told them Im OK. Now, CLC is really 100% different from any other nursing home on the outside. There's usually at least 2 RNs and 3 LPNs for the floor of 30 (32). Patients are similar to nursing rehab units though, not LTC. I'm actually doing the job of LPN, basically, med pass. But Im OK with it for now. They have couple of vent pts, trach and g-tube pts, some Foleys... I am a new RN basically and I think I can learn certain things there. I learned trach care and I am not absolutely terrified to do it by myself anymore)) The thing that I hate is that since they federal, they don't care, they will put an RN to do CNA's job sometimes. And they are often short of CNA's, so either LPNs or RNs have to pick up an assignment. Another thing is people have 2 hours after shift started to call out sick... absolutely makes no sense, but... so they do assignments every day in the morning and it takes a lot of time to figure out who's here and what u need covered and who's doing what today. How is your experience? Did you go to CLC?

Did you go to orientation/started? Or you will wait to do the other permanent position? HR could not really confirm the shift, I only told them I can't take night. I am starting on Monday, which is the day I told HR I am available. I did not even do VetPro yet. Probably they are really in need. And maybe the fact that I am a recently separated veteran helped a little. I applied to some positions, but I was only referred for one temp position. This recruiter contacted me because I applied to Travel Nurse Corps position back in November 2019. I really hope I can transition to something permanent after this assignment (which is 120 days).

Hello, Can anyone share any info on VA Extended care/community living centers? I received firm offer today and took it, but the whole process was extremely fast for VA standards and I am not even sure what shift and what hours I will work. Anyone was hired for temp position for Covid and already started?

Hello, Looks like I might be starting a job at the VA extended care/community center/nursing home in the Bronx. Anyone who works there or any other extended care? Please share how many residents per nurse, organization on the floor and anything you think would be valuable information for someone who is about to start. Thank you.

Hello, Looking for career advice. I am still a new grad, during nursing school I wasn't sure what path to take career wise, the only clinical I really liked was NICU. After graduation I applied to the hospitals in the NYC with no luck, so I went to Nursing Home and lasted there for 2 months only. I hated being rushed, running from one patient to another. I liked the nursing part and if I had 10-15 patients instead of 30-50 I would enjoy it. After that I took couple of weeks off and went with Home care private duty position, very low pay for RN, but one patient. I have an obligation of 6 months or 500$ fine to break a contract. Almost at the same time my friend referred me to other home care agency, the one that provide Home Aide services and RNs just do an assessment on the member every 6 months. They also are willing to train me on UAS assessments. They pay better and I think I like it more, but I will not have any clinical skills. Ever since school everyone say you need to get some clinical skills. After Nursing Home I am very discouraged to apply to the hospitals, because I know the ratios are bad there as well, and I don't like the stress of running around or not being able to provide best care. Should I quit the private duty position? I'm there just for at least some kind of clinical skills (i got a case with preschooler who is on vent and G-tube). I do not see myself doing this kind of nursing long term. What are those skills even worth? It is just one patient after all. What are the options with UAS and similar RN positions? What is that experience good for? Working with big insurance companies? This is state specific assessment, does it translate to anything in other states? This is good positing and I was lucky to get it, money are also great plus flexible schedule. I'm just not sure if this will limit my future options severely. I'm also in school for BSN and probably will go for NP after that.

I can only say that this is a long post indeed, but very well written. You do sound like a very nice person, I can't tolerate any conflict myself, so I feel your pain. You are bullied, and this is horrible. I would just leave. Your sanity is more valuable than any job in the world. I am very new RN, I always thought clinic is MUCH easier than hospital... what makes it harder? Or it's just different?

jennsrn Nobody is looking down on me just because everybody else are new as well... I get no criticism of any kind because I'm on my own 90% of the time. And I quickly learned that even if people act very confident it doesn't mean they know what they doing. I feel like this is very bad and I got bad habits that I'm not even aware of. Oh, yes. I lasted for 2 months only. and I feel exactly the same. I am as well ready to take a cut. Exactly! I even feel like there is no reason for anyone to go through RN school just to pop those pills out blister pack. This is all I do. I try to be a nurse in a very simple way, like I address DM control and make suggestions or BP control... "Oh, this resident is always low, I feel like meds need to be revised." Or " The sugar is high, I think we need to put a sliding scale" This is the most critical thinking I've done (this is not a critical thinking even)... I feel like this is very primitive and "not a rocket science". So I'm scared that I will feel very inadequate if I get a hospital job. First of all, if someone is yelling at the professional setting and especially in front of the patients that already says a lot. I would ignore that. No, I would cut him off. Second, in my facility - "do your best, however you can".... I honestly do not remember such a rule about SOB, that pt shouldn't be eating. All I can think about is encouraging smaller, more frequent meals. If resident was on O2 and wanted to eat and was able to do so, what is the reason he can't? The SOB wasn't that bad if he was eating. The EMTs worried about intubation and possible aspiration on stomach contents? Was this COPD or something else? Was any treatments given? Nebulizer? I might be embarrassing myself by asking those questions((

Thank you all for your replies. I did put in my 2 week notice even before this happened. I have couple of days left. I just don't want this to follow me somehow. No, when they asked me to sign paper that says I failed to supervise, this was my response.

Hello, I am a new nurse, at my first job not even 2 months. This is LTC. They hired more nurses and gave me buddy-up. My own orientation was 7 days. I have a lot of residents so I did what other nurses did when I was orienting, I told her to help me. I was there, taking meds for one resident and told her take out meds for another. Next day they call me downstairs and say that she gave wrong medication. (that was bedtime med). And also that she was practicing under my license. I got in trouble because I didn't supervise her properly etc. I did not agree that she was practicing under my license... she is not a student, right? Or wrong? The resident is fine (it was cholesterol drug). Does this go on my license record? Anything I should do?